N
by an awesome blossom
Summary: [Dark Link x Link x Sheik] COMPLETED. Sometimes the difference between real and imaginary is just perception.
1. N

**N**  
by an awesome blossom  
_Sometimes the difference between real and imaginary is just perception._

Bede was one of the first to assign the Roman numeral _N_ to the numeric concept of nothing. "The Legend of Zelda" is property of the good folks at Nintendo.

**N.**

Something.

That was what happened when the sun rose the morning that Lake Hylia's waters filled to their natural position. And from the darkness came a Hero - the bearer of courage and light - greeted by light hiding in the shadows. His victory was to be expected but the subtle look of defeat that crossed his face was not.

"Are you all right?" Sheik asked in a surprisingly warm tone as they surveyed the lake's rising water level. "That temple was particularly...maddening if you ask me. I have to admit, I was unsure if you would return..."

Link tilted his head in Sheik's direction and his eyes showed uncertainty over whether or not he had heard him correctly. "Huh. You've been there? In the temple?"

Sheik nodded slightly. "After I rescued Princess Ruto, she requested that I aid her in destroying that monster. Of course, we hardly got anywhere because we were ill-equipped and hardly the Hero of Time... Hopefully we managed to make parts of it safer for you, though."

"_Safer_? The whole temple felt like a deathtrap if you ask me," Link said in amusement as a corner of his mouth curled upward.

The chuckle Sheik gave was soft and almost breathy. "Even in the limited area we crossed, it still felt as if the temple itself bled malice. I can't imagine how the areas we weren't able to access were..."

"It actually wasn't _that_ dangerous," Link admitted with a small laugh, "just tedious and confusing. I only almost died once, which is infinitely better than that fire pit of a temple from before!"

"So the monster in there was difficult as well?" Sheik asked, almost apologetically yet still fascinated at the remarks Link had about the temple. Since their first meeting at the Temple of Time, it seemed as if their conversation at the lake was the only _real_ one they had ever had. And it was the first time they had talked about a temple after the fact. Link by no means bored him, but Sheik wondered why he was still there - and why he had met Link again in the first place.

Link actually shrugged at Sheik's question in a bit of indifference. "Morpha's core wasn't difficult but avoiding being thrown around the room by its tentacles _was_. Volvagia seemed harder to kill, though."

"What almost killed you, then?"

A few moments passed without a word and when Link eventually looked back out to the lake, it hardly seemed like he would answer.

Though he appeared calm on the outside, Sheik's thoughts and stomach were churning. Had he gone too far in his curiosity? They never really _talked_, so it was possible that he had misjudged the Hero's openness... Sheik was decidedly uncomfortable in what he considered his folly and chose that moment to silently steal away. Thankfully Link didn't notice his departure until Sheik was crouched at the top of the barren and wounded tree sticking up from the island like a flag of surrender.

"...Hey Sheik, do you believe in -- huh?" Link asked at no one at first until he realized he was alone. "Sheik? ...Not _again_..."

The last of the Sheikah watched with a tinge of sadness as the Hero of Time looked around the island and in the water for him, ever failing to look _up_. Of course, Sheik would never allow himself to be seen even if he had. When it seemed as if Link resigned him to the fact that Sheik had once again left him, he took the opportunity to dive off the tree and into the lake below.

_Your friend was in the tree the whole time._

"Did you know?"

_...No, though I know he dove into the lake. He's of those Shadow people, you said? I _know _them. Hiding shadows are never seen._

"Are you always so cryptic and vague?"

_Hardly. Though I might be more often since it seems to creep you out._

"You don't need to talk to accomplish that..."

_Heh._

"...Do you think he knows?"

_Your friend? Hard to say since he has that cloth covering his mouth. ...You'd miss the perfect look of disgust on his face if he did._

"...Let's go."


	2. I

**N**  
by an awesome blossom  
_Sometimes the difference between real and imaginary is just perception._

I'm taking some rather extreme artistic liberties with this. So if you notice anything that doesn't line up with something that happens in the game, don't bother telling me; I already know.

**I.**

"_Goddesses_ is it hot," Link groaned as he slumped against the warm stone wall from inside a fixture in the desert and touched his side gingerly. "I think I got sand under my bandages."

_You should have killed that Gerudo bitch when you had the chance._

He dug around in his pack and produced a canteen. "Why? ...You worried about me?" Link asked with a smile.

_No. You're just so fucking annoying when you complain._

"So vulgar! Are you in a bad mood or something?"

_I don't know about you, but being lost in the middle of a Goddessforsaken desert doesn't exactly perk me up._

"Ahh," Link said holding the canteen in one hand and pointing triumphantly with the other, "but we're not lost. One of the ladies in the Fortress said to follow the flags until we see a stone structure, and then we'll find someone who will be able to guide us the rest of the way."

_Did you_ see _anyone here?_

"No. But we didn't check all over."

_It's not exactly a large structure. I think you could fit five Hylians in here at the most._

"Who's to say they're not on the roof? I think I saw stairs outside leading up to it..."

_To be up there in this climate they'd have to be as crazy as you, Link._

"It's possible," he said with a good-natured shrug as he tilted the canteen up to drink. "Hey, I could have another twin running around up there. What do you say..._you_?"

_I'd say your canteen is empty._

Link let out a small yet resigned sigh and silently screwed the top back on the canteen. "You know," he admitted with an embarrassed laugh, "I think it's only had water in it once. I keep forgetting to put some in..."

Silence was the only response, though Link could feel condescension and annoyance from _him_. It made his throat knot up and his heart beat a little faster. In a strange act of comfort, he carefully removed the cloth cap from his head, and ever so gently he pulled out a dull fairy. He cupped her in a strong hand and stroked her delicately.

_You keep her in your _hat _where she could easily get lost and hurt? And here I thought you actually cared._

"It's her home!" Link retorted suddenly in a brusque tone colored with pain and frustration, "I'm not keeping her in a fucking bottle or anything like that..." With that he stared at _him_ until he could feel no more scrutiny and see nothing but a void.

Just as carefully as he had removed her, Link set her back into the cloth and arranged it snug on his head. "The sooner we get to the Desert Colossus and that other temple, the sooner she'll wake up," he said with a soft voice full of optimism, "I know it... So are you coming?"

_You talk as if I have a choice._

"Then come on."

_So what, we venture blindly into a harsh and uninviting climate on words given to us by a malicious bitch in hopes that the Goddesses will take pity upon us and send someone to guide the way?_

"Yep."

_I knew there was a reason why I liked you._

A smile was Link's only response as he gathered his things and made his way back out into the dry heat and blinding sand. He strayed near the central structure as he found and climbed the stairs up to the roof...only to find a space as barren as the desert.

"Huh," he said with resignation. "I guess you were right; there's no one here."

_As much as I'd love you to believe I was right, the fact is that there _is _someone here. A shadow of the living._

"One of _those_ types?"

_No, no...a Poe. This must be the guide that Gerudo woman spoke of._

"I don't see anything..."

_Has your dimwittedness blinded you? It's hovering off the ledge...and it's moving, Link. Follow it._

"Follow _what_?" Link asked as he circled around. "This Poe that only you can see?"

Go! _It's leaving us!_

"_I can't see it_," Link muttered tersely as he gripped the sides of his head in frustration. "How am I supposed to follow something I can't see?"

_Idiot! Face slightly to your right. ...Good, now jump off the ledge and _run_. We've got to catch up!_

Link murmured a faint curse as he followed orders for only a few seconds.

_Stop, stop! You'll pass it up, and it does us no good to be ahead of our guide._

"Fine," he said as he came to a halt and looked around at the stationary scenery. The only change was that the stone structure was slightly further away than it had been before. Other than that, it was just sand and more sand. "Where is it now?"

_It'll be coming up on your right..._

An involuntary shudder coursed through Link's body and his right shoulder tingled as it turned to a coldness that was unwelcome even in the desert's remarkable heat.

_Did you feel that? It passed right through your shoulder. Heh. How did it feel? To occupy the same space as the dead?_

"Stop being so morbid and tell me where it's going."

_Just walk a gentle curve to your right...now left...straight...straight...left...left...left..._

"Are you toying with me? Because it's hot, I'm getting dizzy, and I really don't appreciate it," Link stopped and blurted out in frustration at the slow instructions given to him.

_Don't stop, you'll lose it. Go left and be quick for a few paces so you can catch up. And no, I'm not shitting you, as much fun as that would be. You forget, I have no desire to die out here in this Goddessforsaken land with you. Keep going straight._

"Hey...since you can see this thing and I can't, can you communicate with it? Ask it how much farther the Colossus is?"

_...Can't. Your whining is the only thing I can hear. Go right. Just follow my directions and we'll get there eventually. Left._

"We only have an hour or two before nightfall, don't you think?"

_Right._

Link trudged through the sand, following unseen guides through a nonsensical path, for what seemed like forever to him. He watched the sun gradually descend into the horizon with every few direction changes or so as his body felt like it was rapidly wearing out. Frequently he was chided for not having any water in his canteen. He chided himself on this as well.

Eventually, just as dusk was creeping in, he reached a post.

"Where do I go now?"

_How am I supposed to know?_

"W-what? Where's the Poe going?"

_Back to where we met it. This is as far as we were taken..._

"You're being an asshole, right?"

_Yes, but not on purpose. I really don't know where we're supposed to go now. I can't see so well now that it's getting darker and the wind is picking up._

Leaning against the post with a faded red flag tied at the top, Link fiddled with his gloves nervously. "So it's getting darker and we're out in the middle of the desert where everything looks the same... It's okay. I've been in worse situations before, right? I can get through this one."

_It's getting cold, isn't it? Now that the sun is abandoning you._

"The Ice Cavern was colder."

_Was it? But you weren't so..._alone _then as you are now._

"I'm not alone. I've got you and Navi with me. And you said that you didn't want to die out here with me, so I know you'll help me out of this, even if it's with reluctance."

_...Her light's out._

"It'll be back. We just have to awaken the last two Sages and then she'll be flying around, yelling 'HEY!' and telling me things I already know."

_She was annoying, wasn't she? Is that why you..._

"You can be as big of a bastard as you want, but I won't lose faith," Link murmured as he looked around, shielding his eyes from the flying sand before spotting something. "...Hey, is that another post out there like this one? Over that little dune?"

_Huh. I suppose it is. There are probably other posts that will eventually lead us to the Desert Colossus. Hopefully._

"Then let's get to it! I'd like to reach there in time to catch some sleep and food."


	3. II

**N**  
by an awesome blossom  
_Sometimes the difference between real and imaginary is just perception._

Violence and unnecessary language, probably.

**II.**

His breath came harsh and ragged as he clutched his left arm in pain. The Iron Knuckle, bigger and darker than the last, strode slowly towards its intended victim in a saunter weighted down by gravity and metal. The dull glean of the iron in the chamber well lit by torches was only present on select pieces of armor; the rest of the metal was dented by what few victories Link had on this iron warrior.

As Link looked down briefly at his injury, he saw that bloodstain had consumed his sleeve entirely and even crept up to his shoulder. He wasn't surprised since it felt as if his blood was pouring out in copious amounts. "I can barely use my left arm, and I'm losing a lot of blood, even as we speak. What are the odds of me surviving?"

_Unless this thing keels over on its own, you're going to die._

"That's..." Link said breathily as he backed away from the slowly advancing Iron Knuckle, "that's what I thought."

The Iron Knuckle closed in on Link while he backed away, almost in a circle, trying to decide what to do as blood dripped from his left hand. Close enough to its intended target, the metal warrior then attacked, swinging its heavy and deadly labrys at Link.

In reality it was a few seconds before the blade came in contact with the new shield, but since Link's head was swimming from blood loss and pain, it was as if he only had a fraction of a second to defend himself. The labrys came crashing down, simultaneously crushing Link against the ornate and detailed carpeting of the floor now stained with his blood and sending him flying back a few feet into a sturdy column.

Link let out a sharp cry of pain as he felt at least a few bones in his arm break. In that moment he realized the weight of his situation, how helpless and useless he was on his own - he, the Hero of Time, who could not properly figure out an animate mass of metal's weakness and execute it. "Navi," he whispered, his voice cracking from pain and exhaustion, "help me. Please."

_What about that ball of holy fire? You may not be in any condition to use it, but it's strangely powerful. Able to overcome darkness, even..._

It wasn't Navi, but it was something.

For a few seconds as Link pooled his concentration swirling into an orb of fire in his hand, the approaching Iron Knuckle was forgotten. The only thing worth thinking of was the indirect power of Din flowing through his palm and fingertips, gathering such incredible energy that could make any enemy suffer. When the large, metallic hulk was but a few feet away, Link let loose the power of the Goddess Din, Her wrath in the form of fire.

Din's Fire did no more than stun the enemy momentarily, but once Link saw that the enemy hadn't perished, desperation and an almost animalistic instinct to survive kicked in. As he took his sword in his right hand, that was all the time he needed.

There was no real skill or finesse in Link's desperate and wild attacks on the metal armor with an arm he was unused to, but the alliance of the Goddesses was verified once more when he hooked the Master Sword underneath an iron armor plate - the first major blow to the Iron Knuckle's defense. Even with the enemy regaining mobility, adrenaline rushed to Link's head, handing him back his talents in speed and quick thinking as he made quick work of the outer armor. In an attempt to finally behead the iron giant and secure his victory, Link swung his sword upwards. His right hand, however, wasn't as skilled as graceful as his other and instead he managed to send the helmet flying off.

...Only to reveal, as the remaining armor of the Iron Knuckle fell to the floor in a loud clang, a Gerudo woman.

A sharp intake of breath was the only sound Link made as he stepped back slightly. His pain and fatigue was forgotten.

_I told you not to trust those bitches._

"But...she may be..." Link murmured, almost inaudibly, on the defense as the Gerudo looked around the chamber wildly, finally setting her eyes on the man before her.

Her tongue was sharp and heavy in accent as she spoke to him in a panicked yet commanding tone, "Who are you? What have you done to me?"

"I..." Link began as the heavy sensation in his head returned and his bodily stress began to make itself known in his voice, "I..." But that was all there was.

"One of Ganondorf's lackeys, aren't you? I may have been found, but I won't let you or him or anyone else defeat me!" She did not have a weapon to attack him with and the labrys was too heavy for her to wield, but Link had to credit the Gerudo's resourcefulness when she darted off to the walls of the chamber and picked a torch from its holder.

"We're on the same side," Link said as he sheathed his sword awkwardly with his right hand. His slack arm's duty, tightly gripping the handle of his shield, was relieved as he took it back into the other hand. "I'm not going to attack you. See?"

She scoffed loudly as she cautiously drew a few feet closer to him. "Like I'll believe a man of Ganondorf's!" With that she attacked, casting the corner of the chamber from which she came into darkness as she rushed up to him and fiercely brandished the torch on Link. Though he put his shield up to defend himself from her, she made contact with his bloody arm almost instantly.

_You shouldn't have sheathed your sword._

The voice rang through one ear and to the other only to ping-pong back and forth in his head, all the while sounding as if he was underwater. It was the only sound he heard - not even Gerudo battle cries or his own screaming registered to him. Link still had speed in his favor, but his legs became useless once he put only a few feet of distance between the Gerudo woman and himself before collapsing. He quickly put his shield in front of him to help defend from any future attacks, though he knew it would be useless. The voice faded in his ears and was replaced by a dull and drone blip beeping erratically; his ears twitched as he wondered why the woman hadn't killed him yet. He didn't even have the strength to look over his shield at her to see her indecision as she stared between the hilt of his sword positioned like a beacon and the scrap metal she was born from.

Link counted forty of the blips before he felt his shield being gently pulled away and his injured arm lifted up slightly. The Gerudo woman talked as she pulled away his tattered sleeves and applied a strange salve to his wounds. He couldn't hear a word of it at first but slowly the burdening sensations in his head receded and her voice reached his ears, apologetic yet still retaining her pride.

"-nd o...des...act...ws in th...sha...o if you s...pla...wing, jus...sh it up an...b it wh...re you...jured. ...s girls alw...s kee...so...on us just in...se, bu...was a li...sed to fi..I still had...me. ...w are you...ling?"

"Huh?"

"I as...w are you feeling?"

"Alright I guess," Link answered as he stared at his charred wound. "My hearing's coming back, so thank you."

"Oh," the Gerudo said as she looked surprised. "I...n't realize you cou...'t hear. Then you m...ave missed my apology. I g...s in my panic I d...'t put together the...lian crest on your shield and hilt of...r sword, coupled with your injuries. The l...t thing I remember before suddenly being here was being f...nd by those two hags as I tried to steal the gauntlets that I see you now possess. The two...ags are Koume and Kotake, and they're particularly talented at brainwashing. It's no surprise that they practically advise Ganondorf."

Link looked up at his attacker-turned-savior as she finished applying the salve. "I take it they trapped you in that Iron Knuckle I fought."

She nodded and tore several strips of fabric from her flowing pantaloons. "That's the conclusion I came to as well, especially since it's not beyond their capabilities to do so. I was try...g to steal the gauntlets so I could get into the final chambers of the temple where his treasure and lair were rumored to be. While I was practically his right hand, he didn't trust me enough to let me into his most sacred place. I guess he knew after all that I was plotting against him. King or not, I didn't want him to oppress my sisters any longer. That and that dream he had of ruling even Hyrule was ridiculous," the Gerudo said as she finished wrapping his wound with her makeshift bandages.

"Ganondorf took over Hyrule seven years ago," Link said quietly.

Her expression was that of shock, but after a few moments it turned crestfallen. "I can't believe they stole over seven years from me," she said softly. "I...I could have _done_ something to stop him..."

Although he knew it was inappropriate and he greatly sympathized with her, Link began to chuckle at her words.

"Why are you laughing?" she demanded suddenly, taking the defensive and prideful stance. "Who are you?"

"Seven years ago, I met the Princess of Hyrule who told me that she and I had to save the land from a man who she believed pledged false fealty to her father in an attempt to eventually overthrow him. To help her stop him, I would have to gather three semi-precious stones that acted as keys to the legendary blade of evil's bane. I was only ten at the time and underwent considerable trial to retrieve them, but as you can see," he said, gesturing over his shoulder to the hilt of his sword, "I did it. Unfortunately, when I pulled the sword from its pedestal, I went from the body of a child to that of an adult. A Sage told me that I had slept in the Sacred Realm for seven years - the seven years that Ganondorf used to ruin Hyrule - until I was able to wield the Master Sword and become a true hero. But I can't even try to stand up to Ganondorf until I secure the power of the six Sages, which involves cleansing the temples of evil to awaken them. So here I am, attempting to cleanse the Spirit Temple and awaken the fifth Sage."

The Gerudo took a moment to consider his words, but she appeared to believe him. "The Spirit Temple...that's where I figured we were. Since you have the gauntlets, we must be in one of the back chambers, the ones I was never allowed to venture to..."

"There are but few more according to my map," Link said with a hinting smile.

She gladly took the hint. "Well, you obviously almost _died_ fighting me, so there's no telling what other trouble you could run into on your own. We seem to have the same goal anyway, so I'll lend you a hand. Speaking of hands, how's your arm now?"

Link carefully bent and stretched it. "A little sore, but that salve did an excellent job on it."

"Good because it's a Gerudo specialty," she said with pride, then she stood up and extended her hand to Link. "I'm Nabooru, one of the finest Gerudo thieves you'll meet."

He stood up and took her hand with a wide smile. "And I'm Link."

_And what about me?_

His smile quickly became strained.

"How 'bout we blow this joint?" Nabooru suggested with spirit in her eyes as she walked off a few feet, posing dramatically with good humor as she continued, "Teach those hags a lesson and see about that Sage!"

Link had been about to respond when a strangely high-pitched noise reverberated throughout the chamber, and both he and Nabooru quickly went on the defensive. The source of the sound soon manifested itself as two cackling old women circling around a shocked and angry Nabooru, hovering on brooms. Link tried to reach for his sword, but there was something strange in the air; he couldn't move. There was a numbness in the atmosphere, and from the looks of it, Nabooru was ensnared as well.

"Look at the desert rat, Koume! She appears to be free from our spell, doesn't she?"

"That she does, Kotake! See the way she glares at us? With fire and ice in her eyes!"

"Fire and ice! That's good, Koume! That gives me an idea, even!"

"Oh an _idea_, you say? This wouldn't happen to involve this nice, strapping lad here, would it Kotake?"

"_Stripping_ lad? Koume, my dear, your eyes appear to have gone! I do believe he's fully clothed!"

"It is not my eyes that have gone, dear Kotake, but your ears! I said _strapping_! Though that gives me an idea as well!"

"Oh ho ho! Does it, Koume? Well, let's take this traitor back and deal with her. Perhaps this lad will come for her, and then we can put both our ideas into effect!"

The one called Kotake said this as a purple mass of dark energy spiraled underneath Nabooru, and she slowly sank into the floor as if caught in quicksand. He didn't know which one was which from sight alone since they circled around in a confusing manner, but Link wanted to tear out of his invisible bindings and rid the world of the both of them. Koume or Kotake or Koume and Kotake...it didn't matter; he wanted their existence erased.

"Splendid, Kotake, splendid! Perhaps we can work up a surprise for him as well!"

With that said Nabooru, the two witches, and the binding air vanished from the chamber, casting Link into darkness once again.

Just as he had found some light to take with him in his journey...

_So...big hero that you are, are you going to save her?_

Link didn't even answer as he rushed to the virgin door behind the remnants of a throne, trying to pull it open with all his might, and then beating on it profusely once he realized it wouldn't open.

_Link._

He didn't recognize his name as he continued to beat against the thick door, not caring that his hands had begun to bleed where they pounded against rough edges or that his injured arm was in no way prepared to withstand such treatment.

_Link!_

The voice rang loudly in his ears, and Link at once stopped.

_That's no way to treat yourself! What about that medicine that woman gave you? So you're going to hurt your arm again and have it all be for naught?_

Leaning against the offending door and sliding down until he hit the worn and filthy carpet, Link seemed to take this into serious consideration. "...You're right. That's no way to repay her kindness."

Farore_. You can't do_ anything _without someone nagging you all the time, can you? Would you die within five minutes of becoming totally alone? Are you really that useless?_

"Shut up! I'm not!" Link growled defensively as he cupped his injured and throbbing arm. "I just...I don't know, get carried away..."

_You passionate sorts are no good at thinking things out._

"Maybe not...but that doesn't make me useless."

_No, you're not. You're of great use to the Goddesses. Is that what you want?_

"That doesn't matter."

_Perhaps not...but what a fine job they did, choosing someone foolhardy like _you _to deliver this land salvation._

Link chuckled and remarked, "Anyone _not_ foolhardy would have quit a long time ago."

_Very true. So, I suppose you're going to jump back up and try to break the door to rescue that woman?_

"Not just yet. I think if I had to fight just immediately...I don't think I'd make it. I could probably fight with my sword but only for short periods. I mean, I need a break just now from pounding on the door before I can do anything with it."

_What we need is a plan to compensate for this handicap of yours._

"I was planning on defending a lot and using other weapons. Preferably long-range attacks with the bow and such."

_Sounds like the most we can do at the moment._

"Hope it's effective and that those two witches don't have anything too devilish planned for me..."

_Heh._

Link smiled almost sheepishly and took off his hat, emptying its lone content into his hand. He silently examined his dull friend for injury and life, and when he was done he replaced the fairy inside her home.

The voice, with its surprising softness and reflection, startled him.

_So...what do you think you'll do when we're finished cleansing the temple?_

"I don't know. Go find the next one, I guess."

_I meant as far as the Gerudo woman goes. You two seemed to hit it off well..._

Link shrugged and leaned the back of his head against the door, resting the tip of his hat over his shoulder. "Nabooru's pretty and all, and Gerudos _do_ have a reputation...but I don't see anything between us. The most we could be is friends, I suppose."

_I didn't mean like that. I only meant the drawbacks and consequences of her joining us._

"Huh, really?" Link asked in amusement. "I think Nabooru and I will just go our separate ways. I don't really see her joining me for a cause that doesn't directly relate to her. So rest assured, I won't be abandoning you for her, or _knowing_ her, any time soon."

_Why the hell would I care if you slept with a loose Gerudo?_

"_Loose_? You wound their entire civilization! Their reputation isn't _that_ bad. Besides, I meant _knowing_ in the sense that I might have the opportunity to interact with her more if she were to, say, decide to accompany us and all," Link replied with a smug smile.

_Lies don't become you, _hero

"That may be the case, but you're still jealous."

_Ridiculous! Jealous of what?_

"The possibility that my affections may be placed on someone other than you."

_Why would I want that? Hurry up and get to cleansing this dump._

"Can't. Door's locked. Hey, since you seem to be jealous of anyone I'm in any way interested in, what do you think of Sh--"

_Fucker. You've got a spare key on you. Break's over. Get to it._

Link simply smiled in perverse satisfaction and stretched his offending arm.


	4. III

**N**  
by an awesome blossom  
_Sometimes the difference between real and imaginary is just perception._

Violence and unnecessary language again. P.S. yaoi, or not.

**III.**

Despite the rain, he couldn't erase the scent of burning in his mind. Fire. Kakariko aflame.

_You know, you could have died back there and never have known._

Link shook his head and stared up at the dark entrance of what he knew to be the Shadow Temple Sheik spoke of when the rainfall had just begun.

_It's a place covered top to bottom with ancient Sheikah magic, he said. Are you sure you can handle it?_

Letting loose a breath he didn't even know he was holding, Link nodded his head and set to climbing the steep and crumbling rock steps to the temple entrance. "Sheik thinks I can, so I can."

_Sheik didn't seem so sure, if you ask me._

His boot hit a slippery portion of a step and he lost his footing, sliding down a few steps before plodding forward again. Link knew the cynical voice was right; Sheik _hadn't_ seemed so sure of the Hero of Time's abilities to cleanse the temple shrouded within the graveyard and awaken the Sage who he knew to be Impa. But while disconcerting, it did nothing to weaken his resolve to cleanse the temple of evil and awaken Impa. It's what he _had_ to do, whether he wanted to or not, and besides...

He knew it was the last one. This last temple was the only thing between him and... And he'd see _her_ as well - at last. ...So no, there was _no_ way he would let Sheik's insecure tone get to him; despite all odds, he was going to awaken Impa as the Sage of Shadow. He _had_ to.

Without thinking much, Link cradled the tip of his hat heavy with dead weight in his hand as he carefully made his way up. A few steps and he was at the entrance to the temple; its dark and foreboding atmosphere made his heart beat faster but he was still determined.

_Are you afraid of the dark?_

The question was asked tentatively, the speaker aware perhaps of its cliché yet unaware of the response. Link picked up hints of nervous excitation with his sensitive ears and that made his heart beat all the faster. "Yes," he answered finally - _honestly_.

_Are you afraid of that which you cannot see?_

"Yes," Link answered again.

He only heard a dull chuckling in response.

"My fears are nothing, though."

_Compared to what?_

"This incredible duty I am bound to," Link answered and even he was surprised by the heroic edge that crept into his words; he had never thought of himself as a hero, after all - and certainly not the Hero of Time. He was simply a boy forced to become a man so that he could serve... He wanted to think it was for his country - the Kingdom - and the Goddesses, but in reality he knew it was just for one reason: Ze--

The infamous Shadow Temple was no place for a clouded mind.

"Do you really feel the need to ask those questions? I thought you would already know the answers by now."

_I did already know. But did you?_

Link crossed the threshold to the temple and into the welcoming chamber, his actions their own response. Ancient markings took up the dark chamber floor like a circular rug and in the center was a small altar. Cautiously he approached the altar, occasionally bumping into torch stands - always skeletons or ReDead in his mind - in the near dark.

_The only way darkness can exist is if you bring it light._

"I'm not afraid."

_I never said you were, darling._

A pained and sheepish look visited Link's face as he noted the patronizing edge in the voice as well as the fact that in announcing he was unafraid he was only trying to reassure himself. Within the chamber echoed a deadened silence despite his noise.

_What's wrong? Has your light gone out...like _her_'s?_

Link ignored the silence, ignored the noise, as he thought of Navi shining brightly in a ball of fire. She hovered a foot above his hands and her flaming light expanded so that Link felt enveloped in her warmth. Navi bobbed up and down as dead torches gradually became as alive with fire as her. With all the torches lit, the chamber was animate and dancing but the ball of fire was gone. Almost guiltily and with embarrassment, Link realized that the light hadn't been Navi after all...only Din. Still, the warmth was comforting and he didn't feel as alone.

An ominous carving of the Sheikah emblem marked the passage to the shadows, and he, unabashedly, followed within.

_Stop, stop!_

"What?" Link asked as he felt along the rough walls of the dimly lit passage.

_I said stop! _Stop

The Hylian looked around in confusion and growing frustration. "_What_? What did I do wrong?"

_Step back some. You're making me nervous..._

Rolling his eyes, he obeyed. "What? Don't tell me, after all your talk, _you're_ the one afraid of this temple?"

_I'm afraid of _you _falling to your _death _since it will hardly benefit _me

"...What do you mean falling to my death?"

_There's a rather long pit not even a foot ahead of you, or is that something your idiot Hylian eyes fail to see?_

It wasn't often that an overwhelming sense of mortality and vulnerability struck Link, but it did so at that second. "How is it that you can see the things I can't...?"

_I don't know, but there's ledging, albeit not much, to the side of the wall on your left. Hug it; there's little room. Don't worry about me, I'll follow. Just don't get yourself killed._

Link's heart beat fiercely in his ears as he spread his arms wide to cover the wall, gripping slightly at bits of protruding stone as he sidled along the narrow ledging he could only imagine.

_You're good._

"I-I _am_ good," Link said with a small smile as he attempted confidence and a joke, but only wry words fell upon his ears.

That _we have yet to determine._

A soft chuckle escaped Link's uncertain lips as he proceeded down the passageway that only seemed to get darker and darker. At one nervous point it seemed as if he was cast in perfect darkness. "Dear Goddesses, please tell me that the rest of the temple isn't like this," Link murmured in a sinking voice that struggled to stay afloat.

_Without light we may as well not even exist._

"I guess that's why they call this the Shadow Temple..."

_Wrong. Even shadows cannot exist without light._

"So what exists in absolute darkness?"

_Nothing._

"Huh," Link said simply and as he continued to walk, he slid his hand along the jagged stone wall, grounding him he felt. It was exceptionally cold. This continued for a few good minutes until he began to notice that the passage was gradually getting lighter. "Hey, I think there are torches in that room up there..."

Half a minute later, Link found himself in an open area divided by a gaping chasm on one end. "Whoa," he murmured as he took in a large pillar with a ring of smaller pillars surrounding it, each with skeletal heads at the top. "This place is definitely creepy. ...Hey, it looks like one of those turning switches attached to the center column. Do you think it'll bridge the chasm so we can get across?"

_Don't touch it._

"It's a trap, then? Then there must be another way to get across..."

_Don't worry about that now. Over here._

Link was about to ask where when an odd noise reached his ears, seven or eight snaps in succession. Immediately he scanned his surroundings and went on the defensive, sword swiftly drawn and waiting for an attack.

Then a corner of the room laughed.

_Easy there, Moblin. It's only me. I was hoping you'd get the hint and follow the noise. Cross the room to the corner in front of you._

A nasty chill crept up Link's spine as he took note of the voice's unusual distance. "You're...not in my head anymore, are you," he stated with trepidation as he reluctantly crossed the room..

_No. I'm not._

In the several seconds that Link took to arrive at the corner there was a full silence.

_To your left now. I'm guessing it looks like a wall or something to you, right?_

"Yeah... Listen, how can you see these things? How are you..." the last question was left in midair as Link reached out to feel the wall the other talked of, uncomfortable when his hand passed through it.

_Come_, the voice coaxed as Link felt an icy stillness pull on his fingertips, _let's take a look at the gallery._

Link shut his eyes as he passed through the wall, fully expecting it to take mass at any second and crush his particles. When he opened them he was greeted to the sight of what looked like an art gallery of skeletal portraits, dimly lit by eternal torches. His memory instantly made the connection with his final experience at the Forest Temple and put him on the defensive. "There's something here, isn't there?"

_Of course there is. But nothing that will harm you, dear._

"...Are you sure?"

_What's with you? Losing your _courage _already? You who was_ chosen _by Farore! It's only an art gallery for Goddesses' sake. Don't you _trust _me?_

Link didn't immediately answer.

_I can't believe this! I never steered you wrong in the Spirit Temple, did I? In fact, if I recall correctly, I saved your life on quite a few occasions._

"You were..."

_What was I,_ Link

His mouth worked as if he were to explain himself away, but instead he only looked into the empty space before him in confusion. After a few moments he simply cocked his head pointed to his temple. His body language read as if he was unsure how to word his thoughts but in reality it was only out of embarrassment; he knew perfectly well how his words would have sounded and that triggered a resounding fear within himself.

Link's actions were rewarded with an eerie chuckle.

_I get you. No, it wasn't always like this, but I guess since we're in the infamous _Shadow _Temple... There's something about this place. I don't know why it is, but I'm not confined to_ you _anymore. What do you think about that, Link?_

"I'm afraid," he answered honestly, "because I can't see you. And I'm afraid of this temple because of, well, things like that pit from before and the wall. ...But I'm glad you're here because you put me more at ease with this place. Even if I can't see even you."

_It's those idiot Hylian eyes of yours, dear._

"Perhaps," Link murmured as he cast his eyes aside, sounding more sheepish than he would have liked. "So, what do you...I mean, well, are you, uh, are you on your own?"

_Physically?_

"Yes."

_Isn't it obvious?_

"I mean, can you...move things? Touch things? Are you like the pit - physically there and taking up space although I can't see you?"

_I don't know_, Link heard as he felt a prick of ice trace from the tip of his ear to his jaw line. It traced an oval around his open mouth before a larger expanse of ice sensation covered the side of his face as he felt a cold thumb trace his lips. _...Am I?_

Then it slapped.

_Standing there with your mouth open like that! Something could have snuck up on you and killed you. Or at the very least found something else to occupy your mouth with._

Link stared at the negative space before him, almost in shock from the icy sensation, slap, and laced words the other gave. "What?" he elegantly managed.

_You're lucky you have me, you know. I shudder to think where you'd be if I wasn't. But come on - this way - down the hall. There's more to this wing you know._

Unsheathing his sword and shield just in case as he silently stewed over the events, Link made his way down a long corridor with skeletal portraits arranged in a perfectly spaced line down the side of either wall.

"You know," he began, "you're not so dissimilar from Navi."

_Oh? And how is that?_

"You're both annoying in your own right. Except Navi was hardly suggestive."

_Well she was a fairy - what the hell could she have _done _with you?_

What Link was expecting out of his unseen companion he didn't know, but it certainly wasn't _that_. "What do you mean?"

_What don't I mean?_

"Now you're being difficult."

_And you're being naive. Don't tell me you were actually..._interested _in her._

Link stopped and stood firmly. "She's the closest friend I've ever had, and I love her dearly. It's not something I appreciate you twisting."

_Fine, fine, I get it. You love her but not like that. How boring, though._

"Well I guess I'm just boring then. Got enough excitement in my life as it is right now."

_Oh really? I find this corridor rather boring..._

Link simply scoffed and continued ahead. "Tell me if there's anything you think I don't see." To Link's inner dismay the gallery was rather bland and uneventful as it seemed to stretch on forever with few twists and bends. At the end, though, they reached a metal door. He was about to ask something when the voice beat him to it - albeit with a very different question:

_So what about Sheik?_

"What _about_ Sheik? You know, this type of talk is best over tea or ale, not while we're exploring a very dangerous temple."

_Rather, I think you're just avoiding answering. After all, it isn't as boring as it was with Navi, is it?_

"You've got no basis for that."

_I seem to recall a certain Hero trying to bait my jealousy with talk of a certain Sheikah._

"I think talk of _any_one would bait your jealousy."

_It's not my fault you're so handsome and endearing._

Link rolled his eyes and placed a hand on the metal door handle.

_Oh don't tell me you don't swing that way._

Something snapped. "What does that have to do with _any_thing?" he said loudly over his shoulder, his annoyance echoing throughout the corridor.

_I was talking about the door._

"Like _hell_ you were!"

_You know, I think whatever's in that other room knows you're here by now._

Choosing to ignore his companion as he tried to regain a clear head, Link cautiously pulled the door open with a rusted squeak, armed with his basic but deadly weapons. He stepped inside the compact room, and when the door closed after him with a soft click, Link, still facing the room, tried to open it back up with his sword hand.

_It's locked from the outside._

"Shit," he muttered under his breath as he watched a circle of dead hands wave as if they were daisies in a breeze. "They're just hands, right?"

_You ought to know, darling, that nothing is as it seems here._

"Am I going to die if you don't tell me something vital I need to know right now?"

_I should hope not._

"Then _do_ peter out for a bit."

_If you say so..._

Link turned his concentration back to the stalks of hands, shield ready for an unexpected attack as his sword hung rather loosely in his hand. After a few moments of watching and planning, he began to feel impatience and boredom radiate from beside him. He mistook it at first for an unseen enemy and nearly did an upwards thrust with his sword before something in his mind connected the feeling to his invisible partner. In a way, it was comforting that they were still joined but Link still would have rather it not be so.

Mind in resolution after his previous false start, Link slowly approached the ring of dead hand daisies with his sword held behind him in position for a spinning attack. Experience had taught him that things like that needed to die all at once, so why should now be any different? He crept into the ring through a gap in the stalks and his arm twitched in anticipation. A sense of alarm from the far edge of the room prevented him from carrying out his attack and instead he looked over his shoulder.

A body like an indulged corpse reared its long neck back and at once a transvestite face shot out to tear Link's shoulder with its gnarled teeth.

Quick reflexes ensured that the teeth met the metal shield with a cringe-worthy scrape and Link rolled back to give some distance between the creature and him. He pulled his arm back for a quick forward thrust when he felt a hand - dead daisy hand - clutch his wrist. The indulged corpse shot out for him again, but Link blocked it with his shield as he struggled to break free from the hand stalk. Denied again, the monstrosity burrowed deep within the dirt floor, spraying brown everywhere and leaving Link with an increased sense of paranoia.

He finally had to kick the pale arm before he was able to twist free, and then he rolled to the edge of the room to escape another hand that reached out so tenderly for him. Rubbing his bruised and aching wrist, he realized that the hands were the least of his worries. The body was still nowhere in sight, and Link had the intense fear that at any moment it would strike up between his legs with those wicked teeth.

Right about then he wished he hadn't told his companion to "peter out".

Any further thoughts stood no chance as the ground before him erupted and out rose the monstrous corpse, rearing its neck back for another attack. Instinct kicked in and Link slashed forward with his sword, again and again and again, releasing a putrid oil that oozed from the injured body and coated his blade. It retreated back into the dirt with a strangled cry that might have reminded Link of a wild cat in another situation.

The thought of those teeth tearing into him made Link's heart beat fast and hard well into his ears, but he crept around the ring of hands cautiously as if he could somehow detect and sneak up on his adversary. Loath to wipe the foul liquid from his sword on his clothing, Link tried to soak it into the dirt when he heard an almost _rubbery_ sound behind him. He didn't even have to look back to know what was there. Instead he blindly spun around and lashed out with the legendary sword, fate allowing him to connect with the slender neck of the still upright corpse and severing it entirely. The indulged body fell apart, its body melting into the earth as if returning to dust, leaving behind an object glimmering in oil.

Link glanced back to the center of the room, confirming the creature's redeath with the sight of wilting hand stalks, before going in for the treasure. He was reluctant to touch it since it was coated in that putrid oil, but it glimmered as if it was made of gold.

_Don't act like such a princess, Hero._

With only his thumb and index finger, Link picked the object up by its handle with a disgusted sigh, noting its foul stench before realizing that it was a magnifying glass of sorts. "All that for this?" he wondered aloud.

_You obviously have no idea what that is, do you?_

"No," Link answered with an arched eyebrow, "I really don't, and it smells so disgusting that I don't _want_ to."

_Ever hear of the _Lens of Truth_? A Sheikah artifact that allows even a Hylian as yourself to see the truth?_

"..._See_ the truth?"

_Why don't you look for yourself? Hold it up to your eye._

"Up to my _eye_?"

_You very well can't see with your hands, can you? Of course your eye!_

"No really, this is disgusting. I don't want it anywhere _near_ my face."

_Link..._

"You can't smell it, can you? Otherwise you'd completely understand."

_Then wipe it off!_

Link rolled his eyes and bent down to the dirt, burying the handle to soak up some of the oil before taking it back out and wiping what remained off on his tunic. Then he carefully cleaned the lens. He held it to his eye experimentally and looked through it at the center wall. "Whoa!" he exclaimed with excitement as he rose up and ran off to examine his new discovery like a curiosity-stricken child. "Check it out! It's some kind of plaque or something. This must be something in the Sheikah language. Maybe we can try to get Sheik to--"

_I'm sure there are other things of interest in this room._

"Huh, oh really?" he murmured as he held the once-offensive object to his eye and looked to his right.

_Other side._

Link pointed the lens to his left.

_Left still._

Obeying, Link turned slightly.

_More left. Left...left..._

The color drained from his face and he nearly dropped the lens.

_There._

Words seemed as if they would form on Link's tongue but in the end they slid back into his lungs as he took steps back until he was flush against the wall. The Lens of Truth was still fixed in place.

_You shouldn't look so surprised, you know. I thought all this time you knew_, the voice - now a physical manifestation just like the plaque behind him - said smoothly and closed the distance between them, the lens backing up until it was inches from Link's eye.

Whether or not he knew of his companion's identity, Link couldn't remember. "You..." he said weakly as his voice trailed off before it had hardly even begun.

_Right. It's been a while hasn't it, Hero? Since..._

"...That room with the strange reflection," Link murmured, and though he looked at his own strange reflection through the glass it was as if he saw nothing at all.

_Strange reflection indeed._

"It's your fault, then, isn't it?"

_That you're here and_ alive his strange reflection asked wryly.

"No," Link said starkly, "that Navi's gone."

The face that Link refused to see took on a serious expression. _I'll take the blame for a lot of things I've done with glee, but I will not admit to _your own _actions._

Color returned to Link's face in the form of an angry pink on his cheeks and the tip of his nose. "You don't know _anything_ about what happened back there."

_And you do?_

"I won, didn't I? I'm here - _whole_ - and what are _you_?"

_About to become very _irked _at you._ Link's reflection leaned in so that they were nose to nose, like a real and distorted mirror was the only thing between them. _Of course, as they say, _history _is written by the_ victors_, is it not?_

"There's nothing subjective about it," Link defended as he unconsciously touched the tip of his hat, "I _saw_ what happened. You merely _vanished_ like a coward running."

_You only saw what you _deluded _yourself to see, _Hero he said, spitting out the title like it was some form of an ancient curse. _But you of all people must know that it does no good to piss off your own shadow._

With that the distance between them was closed as Dark Link pressed his lips harshly against Link's for several seconds as he took advantage of his shock before violently kneeing his host in the groin.

Link toppled forward with a cry against his shadow as the shocked trance shattered, but the embrace was shortlived as he soon regained his senses and reached for his sword. Dark Link only shoved him aside, nearly causing him to crash against the Lens of Truth.

Quick to spring back and parry with his shadow, Link soon found it difficult to attack and defend with a sword in one hand and a magnifying glass in another if the increasing amount of cuts on his body was any indication. Dark Link ducked out of his view and Link felt the stinging sensation of a sword slicing deeply in his side. As he managed to knock him off balance with a wild swing, Link knew the other was only just _playing_. He knew he'd be dead by now otherwise.

Link landed an impulsive kick to his opponent's side and used that spare moment he had gained to think quickly of Din's flaming warmth in his hands full with offense and sight. Her warmth burned brightly in his mind and brought true light to the room - no, not just the room, the entire Temple.

And then She crushed into his throat.

_You ought to know_, Dark Link said with a smirk as he removed his hands from where they had pushed Link's upwards, _that with true light there comes true darkness._

Link neither saw nor heard any of this as it felt like his whole body was on fire, as if he had consumed the sun itself and gotten it lodged in his throat. He was of course not a creature of evil so both he and his darker shadow knew Din's Fire would not kill him.

But it still hurt like hell.

He was rather glad Dark Link hadn't taken the opportunity to kill him once the ringing in his ears, flames before his eyes, and burning in his skin faded; but when he looked into the Lens of Truth with slight disorientation to search out and defend against his opponent he realized it came with a certain price.

Only vaguely in the back of his mind was he aware of why he could no longer see the Truth anymore. Sheikah plaque, Dark Link...all gone. His breathing and heart beat quickened considerably.

Suddenly he was knocked over by an attack against his skull with what felt like the butt of a sword. Out of ingrained experience his tightest grip was on his sword while the Lens of Truth fell from his fingers. He only briefly acknowledged that his hat had dislodged from his head before he hit the ground. From then on things became spotty, in both his vision and awareness.

Link felt as if he should get back up, no matter how bad of shape he might be in, and attack his unseen enemy with fervor despite the invisibility factor. He would have done so almost immediately after the thought crossed his mind if it hadn't been for the fact that he knew Dark Link's intentions weren't for his death - yet, at least.

A movement to his left caught Link's eye. It was his hat - the one he barely knew was missing - hovering in the air, tilted roughly. Navi's dull form tumbled out and for a second Link feared she would hit the ground; his fears were unfounded though and she only landed in Dark Link's unseen hand. Briefly Link wondered which was worse.

_I'm surprised this is the first time your hat's come off. Goddesses know you've been knocked around enough._

Navi hovered, suspended in midair it seemed, though she still rested in a shadow hand. Link saw her turn over slightly, and he was disappointed it hadn't been her own doing. She rose up slightly, held by one wing - Link winced and struggled to get up - and then shortly after by two.

_You know,_ he began, _you're right._

"Huh?" Link murmured and he was pleasantly surprised that any sound at all had come from his lips.

_I wouldn't keep her in a bottle either._

Link stared intently at the spot where he knew his brief ally to be and instantly his thoughts and affections were stupidly disarmed. "So you...understand, then?"

_Yeah,_ Dark Link answered sympathetically, _I wouldn't want some dead fairy wasting space in a valuable container._ He slowly pulled the two wings in opposite directions, and blood formed where they tore from her body.

The blood of a fairy wasn't something Link even knew existed, nor something he wanted to find out about, but it was enough to send him barrelling towards his shadow, sword drawn and blind in anger.

Dark Link's knee immediately met with Link's stomach and the Hylian hunched over with the wind knocked out of him. His shadow's icy arms enveloped him as the Master Sword was cast from his hands, and out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw Navi drop.

_That's your trouble, darling. You're too passionate to think things through, properly,_ Dark Link murmured, holding his host in his arms as he guided them both down to the ground. _Of course, were you a logical type I don't think I'd be so enamoured with you._

"You're _enamoured_ with me?" Link whispered in pain as he tried to regain control of his breath. "That's sick."

_Oh? I seemed to have it in my head that you thought otherwise..._

"Aren't you," he murmured hoarsely, "supposed to be my twin or something?" He heard chuckling by his ear.

_I suppose you're right in a sense. Opposite sides of the same coin, perhaps, but practically the same person..._

"Wrong," Link said firmly as he cast his gaze to where the voice was last, "I will _never_ be you."

_True_, he conceded, _you don't have my brains._

"And you don't have my body."

_I suppose it's because we're so similar that you know _exactly _how to irritate me. However, you'd do well to remember that darkness cannot exist without light and the unseen cannot exist without the seen._

"Are you trying to tell me that it's my own fault that you exist? Because I am good and whole?"

_The brighter the object the greater the shadow, after all,_ Dark Link murmured centimeters from Link's lips. _Though it's an insult to your character that I'm limited to such a narrow realm of existence._

Link felt another's lips upon his once more, moving against him ever so slightly. He wasn't sure how he felt about his shadow kissing him, but he knew it sent sparks through his body in all the places that counted. The lips took his lower lip between them and there was the sensation of it being sucked. Pleasant on its own but strange and disturbing since he knew exactly who was doing the sucking; the fact that he couldn't see him didn't help things.

There were hands down his back, bringing him flush against an unseen body who bit down on Link's lip roughly before licking it in a soothing manner. Link sharply inhaled at the unexpectedness of it but he liked it since it took away from all the pounding and swimming in his head. He closed his eyes and parted his lips, not needing to see anymore.

Dark Link took the opportunity roughly and crushed his mouth against Link's, elliciting a soft moan from the other. His tongue slid between his teeth and explored, probing and caressing, until Link reached an arm up and held on to what felt like his shadow's elbow. Dark Link removed one of his hands from his host's back and instead placed it on Link's inner thigh, creeping forward underneath the tunic until he reached the bulge in his tights.

At first touch Link's eyes snapped open and a hint of panic ran through him as he, in his haze, began to grasp what his strange reflection was doing to him. All thoughts of physical rebellion died in their infancy and a soft moan escaped his lips as Dark Link cupped and caressed his bulging member. His twin removed his lips and Link later felt something wet and probing slide along his ear, spiraling inward.

He was only vaguely aware of what was happening, but he knew that he shouldn't want from the man what he did.

_How do you suppose we get you out of these clothes? Shall we do it the slow and right way...or shall I slice them from your skin?_

Link didn't hear the question and he didn't particularly care. Craving further sensation he pulled Dark Link closer and kissed where he felt his face to be. It was his good fortune that he managed to reach lips instead of air. Suddenly he felt the skin on his arms slice open and throb with blood seeping out - again on his chest, legs, back. Link didn't resist because somehow it didn't hurt; it felt natural, almost, that his body should throb and ooze as his member did. If anything it only helped his hard-on.

With his hands Dark Link guided Link to sit in his lap and spread his legs to either side of his waist; already he began to rub himself against him with his host draped over his invisible form like a warm and bleeding blanket. He disengaged himself from the kiss and instead latched his lips onto Link's pale neck.

Thoughts of temples, sages, Goddesses, and other would-be lovers all swam around rapidly in a disorienting echo in Link's head but they were all insignificant to the very real and physical needs of his throbbing member. He let out a low moan as he felt hands stroke him.

This continued on as Link's breaths became increasingly shallow until all activity abruptly ceased.

_Shit._

Link was roughly thrown aside as his force displaced the dirt he landed on, and to his muted horror he found himself staring directly at a wilted and dead hand. His actual recognition of what he faced was gradual and delayed; in that time he missed the metal door open and a shadow join its breathren.

"Link!"

It wasn't until he found himself staring at a panic-stricken Sheikah later that night that he realized his name had been said.


	5. IV

**N**  
by an awesome blossom  
_Sometimes the difference between real and imaginary is just perception._

I don't have to mention that I've taken extreme artistic liberties again, do I?

**IV.**

Link didn't have to open his eyes to know he was still in the Shadow Temple. There was that everpresent _crawling_ sensation, like centipedes up and down his back and sandpaper to his skull... But there was warmth, and he guessed from the scent of smoke that it was fire.

"How are you feeling, Hero?"

An incoherent, murmuring whisper escaped his lips as he groggily opened his eyes to the flashing warmth and another shadow before him.

"I could guess as much." Light laughter accentuated the echo of stone. "You've been out for a while. I did what I could to heal you and stop the bleeding."

All this roughly registered in his murky thoughts, and eventually his eyes came to rest comfortably on dancing flames on a small pile of wood. It reminded him of Din's Fire, hovering in his palm like a fairy friend...

"_Navi_!" Link said in a loud panic as he quickly sat up and stared at the Sheikah, wide-eyed. "_Where is she_?"

"Shhh, shh, relax," Sheik softly reassured as he sifted through fabric near a pile of the Hero's belongings. Gently he pulled out a dull fairy and carefully handed her off to a relieved Link. "She was like this when I found her with you."

He nodded as he traced his finger along the edges of her aura. "She...she's been like this since the Water Temple. I've tried giving her potions, but...nothing. I was hoping that...or Impa, even..."

"This is a magic that the Princess can reverse," Sheik said gently.

Link nodded again. "I just have to awaken Impa and then I can see her, right?"

"That's...correct."

He stared at her a while longer before reaching behind his head for his hat; it wasn't there, though. "Hey...do you have my hat over there?"

Sheik nodded and presented Link with the fabric he originally took Navi out of, saying, "I figured that's where I always saw her..."

"So you understand?" Link asked, his eyes widened slightly as he placed Navi back in his hat and secured it on his head.

"It's her home, isn't it?"

Link said nothing but smiled as warm as the fire while he nodded.

A few moments passed as Link alternated between gazing into the fire and surveying his surroundings - the art gallery - before Sheik reached to his side and pulled out the Lens of Truth. He turned it back and forth and the reflection of the fire emitted a warped light off the thrice cracked lens.

"So what happened?" Sheik asked finally.

It took Link a few seconds to register the odd, warped light, and then he asked with an odd tone of panic rising in his voice, "It's _broken_?"

Sheik nodded, and Link thought he detected a hint of impatience as he asked again, "What happened?"

Link opened his mouth and began slowly as he wasn't sure what to tell him, "I...I didn't realize it broke. ...I'm not sure what happened."

Continuing to turn the Lens back and forth, Sheik didn't say anything at first. Then, several seconds later, "This was a Sheikah artifact. Just like the Sheikah, there aren't many of those left."

Link winced.

"...But I guess it wasn't intended to be in the midst of battle. I can understand how you almost died from that monster, but it was a guardian of the Lens of Truth. You should have gotten it after you _killed_ the monster, so...how did it break? I'm not accusing you or anything, Link, but I just don't understand."

At Sheik's words, Link was both relieved and put on edge. It was good he didn't have to explain about his shadow - that was the one thing he didn't want Sheik to know about - but then he didn't know how to explain about the Lens of Truth. He decided to feign ignorance. "I don't know. I can't recall much of anything, I guess. ...I almost died, though?"

Sheik's head shook easily, but his words were unsettled as he continued to turn the Lens of Truth. "After I stopped the bleeding, it took me hours to get your temperature and heartbeat back to normal."

"_Hours_? So how long was I out?"

"Long enough," Sheik murmured as he finally set the artifact to his side. "Honestly, I can't tell the passage of time very well in this temple. About a day, perhaps. I don't know."

Link expressed his amazement in a soft murmur as he drew his knees against his chest, resting his arms and chin on his knee caps. Several moments passed in silence as he considered the flame before him and Sheik toyed with a loose pebble near his foot. Finally, he asked, "So how did you know to come?"

Sheik looked up with an expression tinted in an uncertain darkness. "I guess I just had a bad feeling about the whole thing. You were in there just a little over an hour, and already within that time I was so worried to the point of feeling very ill. I was a little guilty about doubting your ability to make it through even a temple like this, but I had to at least know that you were doing well. I'm not sorry for coming, though, and I doubt I'll leave until I see you through to Bongo Bongo."

"I guess I deserve that," Link admitted with a small grin, "near death and all."

"Indeed. And besides, you'll need someone to guide you through, especially since the Lens of Truth has cracked. I doubt without it that you would make it even past the chasm in one piece."

Shrugging neutrally, Link asked, "You mean the big pit in the room with the skulls and torches?"

Sheik nodded. "And right now we're in the gallery, which is, obviously aside from the guardian of the Lens of Truth, one of the only real..._safe_ parts of this temple." He then cracked a wry smile that showed only through his eyes. "You picked a good place to almost die."

"So what is this place? Just a collection of skull paintings?"

"Skull paintings?" Sheik repeated with a little confusion in his voice.

"Yeah," Link said as he looked around him and gesture, "they're all along the walls."

Staring at him for a few seconds, Sheik finally murmured, "Oh, I guess that's what you see..."

Link considered this statement. "So...I guess you can see things like _that_? The things that I can't?"

Sheik shrugged as if not particularly proud of his ability. "They're just representations of ancient Sheikah through the years. The dead ones, at least. Did you notice one of the last paintings at the end of the hall? The empty one just before the steel door?"

A twisted reflection had caught his attention at that moment, Link recalled in distaste, with insinuations he didn't care to discuss. "No, I don't think I did."

"It's the only blank one and at the end of the line. I believe it's supposed to be Impa, and the fact that her _portrait_ is still missing is very good for us. It means that she's still alive," Sheik explained.

"Where is she?"

"Somewhere in this temple. She has about a day on us, but I don't know if that means that she's already reached Bongo Bongo or not. This temple is large, I know that, but I actually haven't been too far through it, so I can't say for certain."

Settling into a cross-legged position, Link relaxed his body as he spoke with tension, "She is the Sage of Shadow, you mentioned. What is she trying to do in this temple? Where is she going?"

"All the Sages thus far have gone through and purified each temple, pushing the root of its evil back until it is confined to just a small area. Of course, they can't physically go through a lot of it - only you have the ability to do that - but they spiritually purify it, whether this is a conscious effort or not. What you, as the Hero of Time do, is go through and physically cleanse each temple of monsters before defeating the root of its evil at last."

Link made an amused face. "That little job description would have helped a lot when I first started doing this."

A brief grin crossed Sheik's eyes. "Well, I hardly had the time or opportunity to sit down with you and tell you exactly what was happening. I could only tell you at the time to go somewhere and defeat the evil."

"Is it okay, then?"

"Is what okay?"

Tilting his head slightly, Link looked at Sheik steadily. "...That we're sitting here, talking like this, while Impa is somewhere in this dangerous temple?"

The Sheikah returned the even gaze in silence for several long seconds before he instructed, "Why don't you close your eyes and take one last rest before we move on."

Link nodded as he shut his eyes and curled to the side, enjoying the warmth of the fire.


	6. V

**N**  
by an awesome blossom  
_Sometimes the difference between real and imaginary is just perception._

I finally took a break from _Twilight Princess_ to write this thing. The dungeon layout has been changed to suit my purposes, but hopefully you'll find a few spots familiar.

**V.**

It felt like his heart was well within his ears, its beating so loud that Link was fearful that someone else could hear. ...Some_thing_ else.

He was pressed with the Sheikah in a small alcove that was an offshoot of another room with dangerous scythes spinning around like a fan to cool the dead. Link was alert, ready to bolt and spring into action at any moment, but at the moment extreme stealth was needed and he didn't know how long he'd last in such tension. Fear and Sheik's warnings were the only things preventing him from rushing into the next room and taking on the invisible monster that made the air groan and crack like an old house.

Gently Sheik's wrapped fingers pressed against his, and the unexpected touch nearly made him jump. It was meant to be a gesture of comfort, but Link couldn't see how there could be anything that could comfort the young hero while he hid - _hid_ - from the very evil he was meant to destroy.

At one point the crackling in the air grew almost unbearable but eventually it receded into the shadows themselves.

"Good, he's passed," Sheik murmured as he moved from the stone wall and stretched his back.

Link took a deep breath and rubbed his face as he walked around simply to get his feet moving. "If Bongo Bongo can't see anything that doesn't move, shouldn't he have a heat sensor or something and be able to detect us anyway?"

Sheik shrugged and admitted, "Maybe, but I don't know for sure. All I know is that he can't see anything that's not moving, which is why we had to keep so still and quiet back there." Catching sight of a frustrated expression that crossed the other's face, he added, "And Bongo Bongo's too strong to take him on now. If he's able to make it this far up from the depths of the temple, then Impa must not be in very deep."

"That or she's in trouble," Link murmured.

"I trust Impa and her abilities," Sheik reassured as he made his way out of the alcove and into the adjacent room. "And besides, if anything did happen to her, I think I'd know."

Link followed, his stomach churning as he thought about the scythes he couldn't see spinning around in the center of the room. "How's that?" he asked.

Sheik didn't answer at first as he jumped over a post but then he said finally once they were in an unfamiliar hall, "...It's a Sheikah thing."

"A sort of collective empathy?"

"You could say that," he murmured as they approached another locked, metal door - uncomfortably reminiscent of the one from the gallery... "Do you still have that key we found?"

Link nodded and dug through a small pouch he kept latched to his belt. "Yeah...but how do you know this is the right door to go through? I mean, what about the one over there?" As he passed the tarnished key to his companion, he gestured to his right.

"What one over there?"

"The door," Link explained slowly as he regarded Sheik strangely and pointed to his door for further clarification, "right here."

Sheik raised an eyebrow. "The only door I see this one."

"You don't _see_ this?" Link asked incredulously as he moved suddenly to make a grand gesture to the location of the door he saw. "C'mon, Sheik! It's not exactly small!"

Parting his lips to perhaps say something snide, Sheik thought better of it as he realized what Link must have been talking about. "Well, if you can see it, and I can't, then it must be a trap. You'd do well to remember that this temple houses many illusions, Hero."

Link considered the faux-door with an irritated expression as the Sheikah unlocked and opened the real door. At the noise, he unsheathed his sword and stepped ahead into the new darkness. "I hate this," he murmured as Sheik closed the door behind them, killing the dim light that spilled from the room before and illuminated a narrow, stone hallway. "What's the possibility of there being some sort of evil thing in here? Or a big, long pit?"

"Well, it's not _im_probable," Sheik said uncomfortably, and he moved in closer to the hero as he reached out to touch his shield.

"It's so dark that if there was a monster or pit in this hallway, we'd never know. A monster would kill us before we even knew what was happening, and we'd fall to our deaths with only the vague acknowledgement that we fell into a pit to begin with."

Sheik let out a disgusted sigh. "This from the man who is supposed to save us all! Don't you have any optimism?"

"This _is_ optimism."

"_Whatever_."

At once Link wondered if he was really the supposed Hero, if everyone had got it all wrong and really the Hero was meant to be some other hapless kid. "Maybe it's really _that guy_," he thought aloud as they made their way through the darkness, each step lonely and unsure. He felt a sudden pressure from his shield, but he had to remind his quickening heartbeat that it was only his Sheikah companion.

"What guy?"

Link meant to cover his words with something lame but instead he blurted out, "My _shadow_."

There was an odd moment of silence before Sheik responded with an almost teasing air, "Maybe. I wonder if he'd be more optimistic and not so afraid of the dark."

"Hardly. And I'm not _afraid_ of the dark," Link murmured defensively, slightly embarrassed that they were even talking about _that guy_...as if the mere mention of him would suddenly make him appear. It was difficult for him to repress a shudder.

"No," Sheik conceded, "you're right. I don't think you _are_. You're simply afraid of the unknown."

Link rolled his eyes though he knew the other couldn't see the action nor the tightening of his mouth as he consciously knew how accurate Sheik was with that seemingly innocuous statement. How right, _right_, **right** he was. Sheik was so right that it made Link want to hurl, want to -- Link stopped abruptly when the tip of his boot hit something solid, and his hands flew out in front of him to confirm that it was in fact a wall he had nearly run into. Sheik, though... He knew it was a common written sound effect in stories like the fairytales Saria used to read to him on occasion, but Link had never heard anyone _actually_ say "oof" like Sheik had.

"Why'd you stop?" he asked in a tone tinged with mild frustration.

"Dead end."

Feeling a shuffling of pressure behind him and a muted movement of stale air beside him, Link imagined Sheik reaching out, trying to see if they really were in a dead end.

"It's just a turn in the hallway. Here," Sheik instructed as he slid his hand down Link's forearm covered by a gauntlet until he reached his bare fingers and grasped at them to pull Link to their right, "go this way now."

Link didn't respond and simply did what he was told as their previous contact left his fingers tingling. He didn't really want to think about how nice it was.

After a few minutes of uneasy silence, Sheik broke the silence. "I don't understand how you cleansed all those temples and awakened the Sages with such a defeatist attitude."

"Nagging. Navi was pretty good at it."

Sheik sighed but there was a certain amusement to it. "So if I nagged you, you'd get us through this hallway faster?"

"Hey now, I'm trying to make sure we don't go falling through any pits or anything!" he said with a hint of mirth in his voice. "We're alive so I think I've been doing a good job, wouldn't you say?"

Sheik's voice lost its playfulness as he asked, "So, without Navi, how did you stay alive in the Spirit Temple? Did you go along at such a dreadfully slow pace as this?"

"Why aren't there any Sheikah left?" Link countered suddenly.

"That has absolutely nothing to do with what I asked you, _Hero_."

Link suddenly stopped and at once he felt Sheik prod him in the back to continue. He held his stance, however. "Why do you sound so defensive? It's just a question. Or don't you want to talk about it?"

"It is _not_ **just a question** and you know it. Stop being childish."

"I guess it's a little hard for me to _not_ be childish since, you know, up until a couple months ago, I _was_ a child. But I just don't want to talk about the Spirit Temple - or any of them, really."

Sheik made a disconcerting hum before he criticized, "You could have just said that, you know."

"Yeah, well, I guess I just wanted to ask you something you didn't want to be reminded of instead. So if it'll make you happy, I'm sorry."

"It doesn't."

"Hard to please, are we?"

Instead of answering, Sheik prodded him more forcefully in the back instead, and this time Link gave way and started walking again.

His spirits were slightly lifted as he thought he could make out a little light in the distance. "You can see that light, too, right? My eyes aren't just playing tricks on me...?"

"No, you're right...we're almost out of this goddess-forsaken hall. And I don't see any traps or anything in the distance so _move it_, Hero."

Sheik didn't have to tell him twice as it was all Link could do to refrain from breaking out in a full on run to the light. The fact that they were greeted by a broken pathway sprinkled with guillotines did nothing to disperse his newly found good mood.

"Well, I can't say I'd rather see a pathway of guillotines than nothing," Sheik sighed as he joined Link by his side.

"Really?" Link asked as he glanced at his companion with a smile. "Being cooped up in a dark hall like that just gets me nervous and edgy."

"I could tell."

"At least, even with this spectacular view of what we have to go through, we can move around and _see_. So compared to seeing nothing, seeing these guillotines is a very beautiful experience."

Sheik considered Link before remarking with a smile that unmistakably reached his eyes. "And here I was wondering where my Hero had gone..."

Link allowed himself to repeat the Sheikah's words in his mind, and he gave a pleasured smile in response. When Sheik's steady gaze drifted upwards in thought, he wondered what his neck without the cowl looked like.

"_Link_!" came Sheik's quick outburst as he gestured up in a sudden panic.

Through a certain intuition that had been hard earned, Link knew what was coming as he thrust his sword up and through a disembodied hand that had dropped down. Once impaled, he threw the monstrosity to the ground and made quick work of it with his sword. When he knew it was dead, he looked back to find Sheik staring uneasily at the creature with his hand over the upper left side of his chest.

Link grinned despite the fact that he noticed that he had gotten a little of the hand's blood on his companion and himself. "You're always so cool and collected... Takes a little hand sneaking up on you to change that, eh?"

"Well I've never looked up to find this _thing_ just... How can you be so calm? That thing nearly killed us!"

Link shook his head. "Nah, the hand? It just throws you somewhere else. I found that out the hard way in my first temple."

Sheik had trouble getting his breath steady as he shook his head to perhaps banish the grotesque creature away. "But...you're just so _calm_..." He couldn't get that out of his mind.

Putting a hand on his shoulder, the legendary Hero looked rather intently at Sheik. "If you're going to stick with me through this temple, you'll find out that I get ambushed by creatures...a _lot_. I eventually learned to stop panicking." Noticing that the other's eyes kept drifting towards the slain and bleeding creature, he repositioned himself so that he was the only thing Sheik could see. "Besides, this is my job. It's what I _do_."

"You're good at it - I'll give you that," Sheik admitted as he regained his composure and gestured to the bloodstains from the creature on Link's tunic, "but you're not good at keeping it clean."

"I'm still your Hero, though, right?" Link asked with a little smile and wink.

Sheik's smirk was evident in his eyes as he gestured to the pathway littered with guillotines. "Get us through _that_ and you will be."


	7. VI

**N**  
by an awesome blossom  
_Sometimes the difference between real and imaginary is just perception._

Two more chapters left after this...

**VI.**

With the aid of magic, Sheik had a small fire going in the middle of a small area enclosed by bars. Just beyond the barrier was a river and dock, but to Link's unease there was no gentle sound of water flowing -- only silence, save for the odd noise every so often. It was this noise that kept his shoulders tense and aching.

Link found it unfortunate that he didn't have to concentrate too much on gutting one of several keese he had killed earlier; he had done it so many times before to simply _survive_. Keese meat wasn't Link's favorite, but it would have to do. "How long do you think we've been in here?"

Shrugging as Link gave him a few more strips of keese meat to cook over the fire, Sheik estimated, "I don't know. Maybe a few days. Why? Is the temple getting to you?"

"A little bit."

"We can always go back to Kakariko if you need to rest and get yourself together," Sheik offered, though the way his voice ran flat revealed that it was not his preferred option.

And neither was it Link's. "I think it's worse to come and go rather than get it all over with. I think Navi and I were in the Water Temple for over a week was it? If I could handle that with her, then I most definitely can handle this with you. Besides," he said with a half-smile, "you're far better company than she was."

Sheik shook his head and remarked, "I don't know how you do it. But then again, I guess that's why you're the legendary Hero... Besides, we should be nearing the end. We just need to find a way to the ferry once it comes back, and, if lore is correct, it should carry us to the heart of the temple. I take it that Impa is on it as we speak which would account for why it's not currently at the dock..."

Link heard none of this, however, as his concentration was elsewhere. He felt a pinch of guilt telling Sheik that he was better company than his fairy companion. To reaffirm that she was still there in his hat, he stopped all movement and concentrated on finding her minute weight in his hat. Once he was satisfied she was still there, he discarded the mutilated body of one keese he worked on in favor of another. "Hey Sheik?" he asked once he found another thought occupied his mind.

"Mm?"

From the fatal wound he began to slowly tear the skin off the dead creature's body, careful not to disturb the meat inside. "What do you think was behind that door?"

Sheik gave him a questioning look and began to ask which door before he realized what Link meant. "...A wall. It was just an illusion of a door, nothing more."

"Well I know _you_ saw a wall, but _I_ saw a door. And I know that it really wasn't a door at all, but c'mon, just humor me here. What do you think it was behind it?"

A few seconds passed before Sheik finally shrugged, as if he gave up. "I don't know. Nothing, I guess. Even pretending that it was a door, it's not on the map so I have no idea how big the area it led to would be."

"I see," Link murmured as if the conclusion he gained from Sheik's answer was disheartening. "Because it's not on the map and the door didn't really exist, it makes to sense to say that there was nothing there. It's...it's kind of like light, isn't it? Without light is no darkness. But in that hallway we were in - you know, that one...there was no light whatsoever. So you couldn't even say it was _dark_ since there wasn't any _light_. Shadow and darkness can't exist without there being light in the first place. So if there was no light - and therefore no dark or shadow - what do you think there was in that hallway? ...Nothing, right?" He pulled a strip of meet from the bone and handed it off to his companion as his words echoed a voice he didn't care to remember. When Sheik didn't take the meat from him, Link looked up from the keese to find an unhappy companion glaring at him.

"I can't believe you're saying something like that," Sheik murmured as he turned his attention in favor of the small fire.

Utterly confused at the other's shift in mood, Link put aside the keese and gazed at the fire as he tried to figure out what it was he said that could have possibly upset Sheik. It took a few minutes of uncomfortable silence before Link finally figured it out - and when he did, he announced it with an elegant, "Oh shit!" He quickly covered his hand in a mild panic but then removed it just as quick to stumble over an apology. "I mean, _I'm sorry_, I really didn't mean, you know -- I didn't take into consideration that you're a Sheikah, like, one of the last ones, and that, you know, you guys are considered shadows to the Royal Family and--"

Sheik interrupted the thoughtful apology with a rare chuckle, as if he was amused by Link's discomfort and panic. "I shouldn't be sensitive about my..._position_, I suppose. I know you didn't have any ill intent with your words, and it's quite alright."

"Oh good! Because, you know, I _really_ didn't mean--"

"I know."

"You do?"

"I said I _did_, didn't I?"

Instantly Link seemed to relax as he picked the discarded keese back up and pried meat off its bones with bloody fingers. "I don't want you to think I'm some kind of insensitive jerk or anything like that -- or worse, for you to hate me."

"I could never hate you," Sheik admitted as he shook his head and laid cooked strips of meat on a small cloth at his side.

Link had to break a bone in the wing to access a thin sheet of meat. He meant to change the topic and ask Sheik about Bongo Bongo but instead he found himself asking, "Why?"

"Because I love you."

For several seconds Link stared at Sheik with an open mouth, wondering if his ears were liars. His blood seemed to get the message, though, and traveled up to spread thinly across his cheeks while his mind brought up chunks of thought usually only accessed in the safety of dreams. Kakariko Village, innuendo, a steel door. "You do?" his vocal chords produced quite without his permission. Then it seemed as if Link regained control of his senses and he realized that Sheik hadn't so much as looked at him during his momentary unraveling, too busy preparing their meal.

Sheik only nodded in response to the words Link had already forgotten he asked. "For seven years while the Dark Lord raped our homeland, we waited with the dream that you, a young lad Impa and her highness had only briefly known, would return. Prophecy foretold your coming as Savior to this land and we could only hope that you lived up to your destiny, that we hadn't somehow made a mistake. I'd never known such blind faith in someone I hardly even knew before. Then the day came when the Sage of Light permitted you to enter the world again. As we watched you rise up to and exceed the challenge, we weren't disappointed. Impa, the Princess, and I...we prepared for years for you, and since you've come back, you really have lived up to that prophecy. Our blind faith paid off, and here you are, sacrificing time for us...truly the legendary Hero." He bundled several strips of cooked meat in a strip of cloth and handed them to Link with the words, "...How could we _not_ love you?"

The previous blush that died in Link's cheeks resurrected itself again but for a different reason than before. "Never before such...flattery," he murmured disjointedly as he resumed stripping the keese of meat as his thoughts about-faced. So it wasn't like _that_... At once, Link found himself both disappointed and relieved.

"It is _not_ flattery," Sheik corrected sternly as he gazed steadily at Link. "Do not think your..._humanity_ has gone unnoticed. How you fear and have doubts yet still continue to stop the spread of evil to save this land. You really are a Hero...Link. Even more heroic, perhaps, because you're real..."

Link meant to say thank you and apologize to him -- for _everything_, maybe. Or perhaps he meant to confess to him about the room with a strange reflection, about Navi, about his shadow. Instead he merely smiled wryly and remarked, "You didn't seem so sure of my ability to cleanse this temple when you first told me about it."

"It wasn't your _ability_ I had doubts in, dear Hero," Sheik answered with an upraised eyebrow veiled by his blond hair. "I simply had a bad feeling about you being in here...and look where we are now."

"Where we are indeed." With that, Link handed the final bit of meat to Sheik to cook before wiping some of the blood on his fingers onto a cloth. As he slipped one of the strips of cooked meat into his mouth, he stared beyond the bars at the seemingly creatural river flowing from the dock. The river, though, was of no concern to him. Instead his thoughts drifted towards the love Sheik spoke of that he, Impa, and the Princess shared for him - the Hero; it reminded him of Saria and the Great Deku Tree. He didn't get the hint that Saria might have harbored feelings for him that were beyond sisterly until he reconsidered Mido's halting words as he guarded the entrance to the Sacred Forest Meadow. It was just as well that Saria turned out to be the Sage of Forest as Link had the feeling that he would be unable to return her affections...

So was that what it was? Another situation like that? Did Link feel for his Sheikah companion the way Saria perhaps did for him, and did Sheik feel only a creator's - or perhaps parent's - love for Link, utterly incapable of feeling anything more for a man?

He was glad - so _thankful_ in fact - that Sheik loved him. Really, the feeling that there were people who supported him that much was great. He was grateful for Saria, Nabooru, Darunia, even Ruto's feelings for him. It seemed like wherever he went he was somehow out of place, so knowing that he was _loved_, that he _did_ have a place even if it was in emotion only... But he had come to terms with the fact that, as selfish as he thought it may be, he wanted more -- or, rather, something different.

In a way, he felt that he was everyone's. They considered him their hero, and he worked tirelessly to save the land of Hyrule and its inhabitants; he accepted that. It was probably loneliness, however, that drove Link to want someone just for him. Navi...was probably the closest he'd ever find to fulfill that _want_ he had. But she couldn't fill it entirely; she was a fairy, not a fellow Hylian, and, well, not a _fellow_. Just as Saria had been. Still, even if she wasn't perfect, he still wanted her back. He wanted everyone back, even shadows.

Instead he had Sheik, who was, in theory, exactly what he wanted...

The transition from boy to man had practically been overnight to him, and at first he was simply a confused child in an adult's body, but he learned and matured quickly - he _had_ to. It was from a crash course in coming-of-age that he learned that matters dealing with attraction and want _weren't that simple_...

Link ran his fingers through his hair and cleared his throat, trying to seem cool and natural, like he hadn't really been thinking about anything at all, as he finally asked, "So, where are we?"

Finishing chewing and swallowing a bit of meat, Sheik eventually answered, not noticing the way Link's fingers tapped nervously against the ground. "We're not too far from being able to properly enter into that room," he gestured. "Knowing this temple, though, the path to it will hardly be straight-forward. After all, we're only able to _look_ at our destination through bars."

The only sound Link made was a discouraged sigh before he tore into the rest of his meat. His nonchalance worked too well because that wasn't what he meant.


	8. VII

**N**  
by an awesome blossom  
_Sometimes the difference between real and imaginary is just perception._

The longer the wait, the sweeter the result, right? ...Right?

Prepare yourself for an asexual and overly long "sex" scene (and if you were expecting amazing hot physical action, you'd do well to read something else).

**VII.**

Light notes, each one shining like a star in the sky, sank into darkness with an eerie stillness as Link's lips parted from the cool ocarina. After playing that song, he was more than ever reminded of his duty in this temple and his promised meeting with the princess afterwards. He put the Ocarina of Time away and wondered if Sheik would think him too strange if he took off his hat and cried over his best friend. Instead, the thought was immediately cast aside as he felt the vessel they stood upon move, drifting down a supernatural current with a destination at the heart of darkness - nothingness, maybe.

Sheik sighed and took a seat on the wooden deck beside the engraved Triforce symbol. "I am not sure how long of a voyage we're in for, but judging from how long the ferry was missing it will probably be a while."

"Is it okay then to just sit and relax? It seems rather strange, doesn't it?"

"Well, if I see anything strange, I will let you know, Hero," Sheik assured with a smirk as Link sat with outward reluctance on the other side of the Triforce symbol, his scabbard and shield clanging. "But then again, I'm not sure how long we will be able to see... We are, after all, heading off into the heart of this temple's darkness."

Link shot his companion a sharp look. "So it's going to be like those hallways pretty soon, then? Pitch black but instead of the comfort of a narrow space we'll have a wide area? Sounds great! Can't wait for it..."

"Don't worry, Hero. If anything comes to grab you in the dark, I'll protect you."

"Hey, hey now!" Link laughed suddenly as he removed his shield and placed it by his right side for ready access. "_I'm_ the Hero! _I'm_ supposed to be protecting _you_!"

Stretching his legs out, Sheik looked up at the drab, passing ceiling and the walls lined with stone after stone. "Will you still be a hero in the dark?" he asked.

A smile was set on his lips, but it didn't reach his eyes. Would he still be a hero in the dark? Perhaps the shadow was the real hero.

"You know," Sheik continued, missing how his companion was utterly panicking inside, "you can always hold my hand if you get too scared."

At once the Hero returned to the present. "What if I'm not scared?" he countered, his meaning slightly different than he portrayed.

"Then you're not scared."

Link would have smiled if he knew they were on the same page. "So," he began as his mind went through several tangents unknown to Sheik, "those seven years. How were they? I never got a chance to ask anyone but random villagers in Kakariko."

"Ah, but those random villagers are really the only ones left. I am sure you know how it was," Sheik murmured as his voice took on a softer tone. He traced the outline of Wisdom's portion of the Triforce symbol beside him. "...Hell."

"I mean, like...you. How was it for you? What did you do? What sort of things happened?"

Drawing a knee up to his chest and letting the other curl up against him, he sighed and admitted, "I am sure that...so many things happened, but I cannot recall them all. I don't think I really want to, either. It was a time where nothing of interest really occurred, but when it did... You know, this is not something I care to talk about right now..."

"Sorry," Link murmured as he unhooked his scabbard from his back and laid it to his left on the Triforce. "I mean, I didn't really mean to...you know."

He shook his head. "I can see how you would be curious about those seven years, but they are the past now. This is the present, and you are the future."

Link's uncomfortable laughter came in soft breaths as a corner of his lips turned up. "I'm Hyrule's one and only hope, yeah, yeah, yeah. No pressure, right?"

"None at all," Sheik smirked as he crossed his legs and faced towards Link. "So what about you. What were the temples like? What did you do in between them?"

"Oh don't tell me you don't know! After all, you were always one step ahead of me."

"I knew nothing beyond my own duty which was to secure the locations of the temples and guide you to them."

In an exaggerated sigh, Link mirrored his Sheikah companion's pose. "Well then, I guess I should tell you. Suddenly finding out that seven years had passed when it only seemed like seven _minutes_ had passed for me sucked. Having to awkwardly go through the Forest Temple and almost getting myself killed several times because I couldn't really adjust to my body sucked. Taking a few days to at least _try_ to get used to my body in Kakariko Village was actually not that bad but it still sucked. And so did finding out had I not spent those days in Kakariko I could have saved the lives of a few Gorons who were fed to a fire-breathing dragon that inhabited a god'awful hole in the earth...which, by the way, sucked."

"And let me guess," Sheik rolled his eyes as he held up a finger to interrupt, "the Water Temple 'sucked', too?"

"Sucked _hard_," the Hero of Time smiled as he touched his finger to Sheik's. "The Spirit Temple actually wasn't that bad, though, except for those old hags."

Sheik kept their fingers connected as he led them to draw lazy figure eights in the air. "And this temple...?"

"One of my better experiences," Link murmured as he splayed his hand, and the Sheikah followed suit.

"So," Sheik said slowly as he kept his eyes on his fingertips touching Link's, "what happened in Kakariko? When you took time out to get used to your body, I mean. What did you do?"

Link inhaled as if he was about to say something, but his voice was late in coming. Eventually he exhaled and started again. "I was really banged up and confused as to what was happening, like I didn't understand a thing of how my body worked and why. I wish I'd asked Rauru when I had the chance. I mean, I still had the mind of a ten-year-old little boy. I just figured, hey...I was big, you know? But...my body and mind didn't quite match up."

"Girls still had cooties, eh?" Sheik murmured with warmth evident in his voice and eyes, but it was detached.

A curious chuckle was all he received in response as Link continued, "Mainly, I just practiced with my sword and the bow and arrows before I felt I was ready enough to go up Death Mountain... But I did talk to a lot of the villagers, trying to piece together what had happened - what was happening with me, really." His cheeks reddened as he started laughing embarrassedly. "I didn't tell anyone about Princess Zelda and the Master Sword, but I told them that the last thing I remember was seven years ago and I didn't know how I got where I was and everything. The tavern maiden figured I must have had amnesia and took pity on me. I didn't even have to pay to have a room to stay in for a while which was great because I was dirt poor... I felt so bad, like I was deceiving them all or something."

"I am very pleased that the citizens of Kakariko continued the hospitality towards those in need that Impa started," Sheik remarked, absently noting that their fingertips ceased to be connected, and instead their knuckles rested against one another.

"Yeah, I'm _really_ grateful to them. I lost a lot of sleep after I found out that I could have prevented those Gorons from being eaten, but then again if I hadn't taken the time out to practice moving in my body, would I have gotten myself killed? But anyway, that's...that's not what I meant to tell you," he admitted as he took a few seconds to glance around at the surroundings before he noticed something on the walls. "Hey, it's those skull paintings again."

Sheik looked over both his and Link's shoulder, examining the paintings as they passed by. "I didn't expect that there would be a gallery here, too. The same paintings are on both sides."

"I guess to give you something to look at while you're riding the ferry, right?"

Nodding, Sheik murmured, "I suppose. We're coming up to Impa's spot in the line, so we'll be able to see if she is still alive."

"...Is she?"

"Patience!" he chided, and after a few moments he announced, "Her portrait was not painted and they are all blank now."

"Why are there so many?" Link asked as he watched portraits with nothing painted pass by every few yards.

Shaking his head, Sheik stared at each of the empty portraits in intense concentration. "I do not know. Impa's spot in the gallery was supposed to be the last since she is the last in the line. Why there are still so many, though..."

"Well what about you?" Link asked as he moved so that Sheik only stared at him. "Impa can't be the last of the line because you're here, too. Perhaps there was just no more room in the gallery and all the rest of the portraits of future deceased Sheikah are here?"

"Yeah," he murmured as he broke his gaze away from Link and down to where their hands rested against each other, "yeah, that is...probably it." He didn't sound very convinced to Link, though, but he changed the topic in a distraction from the portraits. "So what were you going to tell me?" he continued.

For a few seconds Link looked rather lost and confused before he finally figured out what Sheik meant. "Oh! Um..._oh_. Yeah. About that time in Kakariko." He hesitated before continuing. "A lot of the villagers were helpful and, well, told me more than I wanted to know at the time about being practically grown up like I was. But it was just my body that was grown; I still felt like a kid. There was this old man who was really helpful. We started talking, and he told me that becoming an adult isn't a gradual thing. Sure, you can mentally mature from childhood to adulthood and that's pretty gradual, but becoming an adult? Something happens that tests yourself, he said, and you become an adult overnight. You know, I'm probably not even explaining it right. At the time I had no idea what he was talking about, but it was the night after... There was this guy I'd never seen before."

Sheik waited a few more moments, thinking that Link was simply pausing to gather his thoughts, before realized the Hero had clammed up. "Go on."

"You know, now that I think of it, it's a really stupid story, and it doesn't really even make sense. I don't know why I'm bothering you with it..."

Leaning forward until they were inches apart, Sheik murmured, "You're not bothering me. I asked you about what you did in Kakariko, and I am still interested in hearing the story. ...So you met this guy?"

"...Yeah."

A few seconds passed before Sheik prodded again, "_And?_"

"And I'm gay?"

The moments that passed after in a strange silence were nearly maddening to Link. He wanted his partner to have _some_ sort of response, good or bad. Absolute nothing was the worst, especially when he somewhat found the guts to share _who_ he was.

And why did he _so_ want Sheik to know, anyway? Was it a subtle hint that he wanted something more with the Sheikah, or was it because he honestly thought he was going to die very soon? Or maybe it was just because he knew Sheik loved him and Link had been keeping things in for far too long. As he began to count the seconds that passed, he figured it was the last one.

"You're every bit of the Hero of Time as you should be."

Upon hearing Sheik's eventual words, the tips of Link's ears heated and he rubbed his face in both embarrassment and frustration. "Why, because the Hero of Time is to live loveless and alone?" He didn't mean to say that, and he certainly didn't mean for his voice to take that agonizingly bitter tone. As he saw Sheik narrow his eyes at him, he thought that maybe he should have given up speaking for good and become mute. Could he still get by without words? ...Yeah, he could still get by, he thought.

"_No_, because it takes a lot of _courage_ to say something like that, even if it is reluctant courage," Sheik countered sharply. Then as it appeared that Link was considering his words, he added in a softer tone, "But being the Hero of Time does not mean that you have to be alone, and _certainly_ not loveless."

Link almost blurted out that everyone he cared about seemed to leave except...well, even he would leave as well, but for once he decided to think about his response. The more he thought, though, the more a blind panic rose in the back of his head and he found that he was having trouble containing words. "I wasn't alone the whole time."

"You had Navi."

"I _have_ Navi. But...but even then I wasn't alone."

Sheik nodded slightly as he noted how dim the light was getting. "There was that woman in the Spirit Temple you told me about."

"Yes, but as soon as we met those witches took her away. I'm, I'm talking..._getting_ to the desert. There was something I followed, and Navi, she wasn't..." Link wasn't quite sure what he was saying or what he had to say. He didn't _want_ to say any of it, though. Quickly he pulled his hat off and gently placed his dull fairy in his hands. She hadn't changed since the last time he checked up on her, and Link didn't know whether to be worried or relieved at that. At once, his world was reduced to just the two of them, as it always was, and he turned her slightly to check on her injured wings from when --

Well, he _thought_ they were injured. They _had_ been injured. Her wings were held between two foreign hands as they pulled when --

-- and then _fairy blood_, the first he had ever seen of it --

But then there wasn't.

"Your wings," Link murmured as he kept turning her over, like the scars would miraculously come back if he _just did it again_.

"Is she hurt?" a single voice asked somewhere to his left, and when he felt something touch his hand, his world expanded to Sheik.

As Link turned Navi over to the Sheikah for further examination, he said softly, "I thought that... Maybe it's the light. I can't see very well in this."

"She appears to be just fine," Sheik announced after several seconds as he placed the fairy back in her partner's caring hands. "Well, as fine as she can be in this state, that is."

"There was no, no tear? Where her wings meet her body?"

"No tear. Did you think that there was?"

Link put his fairy back inside her home, but instead of putting his hat back on, he set it aside. He scratched his head in its absence. "I guess...my eyes were playing tricks on me."

"I do not know what the extent of the Shadow Temple's power is over the seen and the unseen," Sheik reassured as he felt somehow that something had _happened_ to Link and Navi, "but it is _very_ well possible that it was an illusion."

"Yeah," Link said quickly, "that's... Yeah, that's probably what it was. Maybe I've just been at this too long."

Giving him a soft smile that was evident only in his eyes, Sheik began, "I noticed...that you do not seem to rest very well. With all the activity and _stress_ you have to go through, I am quite surprised that you have not begun to hallucinate."

Link knew that Sheik meant his words to be calming, sympathetic, and light, but instead they only frightened him. In spite of the muted wave of terror that crashed through his thoughts, he laughed. "Mmmaybe. Maybe I've been hallucinating this entire time. Maybe you're not even real."

Sheik laughed but it felt distorted to the hero. "_Maybe_," he answered as his hand lazily crossed the emblem of the Triforce to touch Link's fingers, "but then again, there is no doubt that I'm here right now."

The contact between them felt good, and Link's hand embraced the touch as he looked down to watch their fingers interlock. In a way, it was very comforting to have a physical anchor; like everything actually _was_ real and that he never hallucinated. "Something happened in the Water Temple," Link began, and he looked up to see Sheik watch him intensely. The feeling was discomforting and made his words clumsy and confused as he continued. "There was this room with shallow water. Really...endless. Fog, barred doors, and a tree. Just, you know," he laughed nervously, "a tree. It wasn't very big, and I think it was barren. But it was still a tree. Just in the middle of a room in the temple...a tree... But it wasn't the weirdest thing! There were...reflections. I had a reflection. ...Well, no, I take that back. I _had_ no reflection. Instead there was..." He paused. "Sheik?"

It took Link a couple of seconds to realize that Sheik wasn't staring at _him_, but over his shoulder. Nervously, he looked on the walls that passed (or, more accurately, that the ferry passed) and saw the same skeleton portrait he always saw. He put his hand on Sheik's shoulder and that seemed to snap him out of it. "Is it...Impa?"

Shaking his head, Sheik then shifted through many expressions as he tried to figure out exactly what to say. His indecision was unnerving.

Link felt goose bumps travel up his arms and down his back. Impatiently he asked, "_What is it?_"

"You," came Sheik's abrupt response. "But then again, it...isn't. You but not. That...hardly makes sense, though."

Heart beating loudly, Link swallowed only to find his throat dry. It made perfect sense to him, but he couldn't figure out for the life of him what it meant. "Um, did you hear what I said at all with the Water Temple?"

Sheik's face beneath the mask flushed a little. "I, I really am terribly sorry about that. I heard not a word, actually, but...please understand my surprise...?"

Link laughed, and at once he was relieved that Sheik never heard, and nor would he ever hear thanks to the "hero's" lack of nerve, the start of a confession. "It was nothing important." He didn't need to tell him that, and _he_ didn't need to know that. His fingers reminded him of what he _did_ need, though. "So...it's okay?" he asked.

"Is...what okay?" Sheik asked as he still seemed out of it.

"Me being, you know, uh..._gay_."

At first Sheik looked surprised that he would even ask that, and then he chuckled. "Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?"

A sheepish grin flitted across his lips. "I don't know. I know some people are kind of weird about that sort of thing."

"Well, I can quite honestly say that I am not 'kind of weird'."

"But you are kind of weird," Link quipped, though he wasn't sure Sheik could see the grin on his face through the near-darkness.

He heard Sheik chuckle again. "Well, maybe I _am_ a bit weird, but not about you being gay.

Link nodded and admitted, "Good...because I don't think I could stand it if you of all people, I don't know, hated me or something for it."

"Why?" he asked stiffly, yet his thumb traced over Link's, but he loosened a bit as he surprised himself. "Are you _attracted_ to me? I won't blame you if you are."

At once, Link laughed from hearing those words uttered from his stoic Sheik. It took all he could to keep from telling his partner that yes, yes he was, and that his form-fitting outfit greatly helped in realizing that he liked guys.

His face flushed, and he broke the contact between them to reach up and scratch idly at his neck. Link didn't know whether to answer the question truthfully or in the form of a joke, so instead he opted for silence. To perhaps fill the void with something with a semblance of meaning, though, he inched closer to Sheik over the Triforce emblem. Had it not been so dark and he was able to see what he was doing, maybe he would have laughed to discover that he was sitting on the Triforce of Courage.

And maybe he should have laughed or cried or laughed and then cried when he felt Sheik shift towards him over the Triforce of Wisdom. As it was, though, his throat grew increasingly parched as his palms turned clammy. Link tried to convince himself that it was for nothing, really. There was no reason to feel that way. He and Sheik were simply sitting beside each other, and nothing more.

...Until it _became_ something more.

Link set his hand down only to have it brush against Sheik's back in the dark, and it was because the fabric felt interesting that his fingertips stayed instead of immediately retreating upon contact. He heard the shifting of fabric and felt a wrapped hand accidentally touch against his outer thigh before resting alongside it against the wooden deck. Maybe it was the fact that _pleasant_ physical contact was so rare for him that made him lean to the touch - lean to Sheik - though without his sight he was fearful of how close he might have been. When he felt the warm proximity of Sheik's body indicating that he was closer to him than two non-romantic males like them should have been, he couldn't decide if he was too close or not close enough.

"Link?"

This one word was all it took to make his heart beat fast and hard well into his ears, and had he not been consumed by a sudden panic and fear of rejection he might have wondered if even _Sheik_ could hear his heart beat. As it was, he immediately withdrew all contact. "Sorry! I didn't mean to--"

"No!" Sheik exclaimed in muted panic at the loss of contact, and in retrospect the two might have laughed at their awkwardness. "I mean, I'm not --"

"Sorry!"

"N-_no_."

"I'm _really_ sor--"

"Shut up!" Sheik's voice caught a rising tone, and he blindly reached out to catch Link's shoulders. "I'm not..."

"_Sorry!_"

Gripping at the bone on the hero's shoulders, Sheik pulled Link towards him and exclaimed in a tone that suggested a sort of finality, "I _am_."

Had there not been such an oppressive darkness, the two might have looked at their flushed, panicked faces and laughed so hard that they would need each other for support. Instead, Link could only look straight forward into nothingness and feel the hands on his shoulders nervously shake. "What are you?" he asked tentatively at such a volume that at first he wasn't sure his partner could hear him over the clattering of his own heart.

"That...that doesn't matter," Sheik murmured in a shakiness that reflected his grip.

Swallowing proved difficult for Link with an overwhelming knot in his throat. Perhaps his heart would have slowed down had Sheik outright rejected him. "But whatever it is, you _are_."

"It's not what I _am_," the Sheikah muttered weakly as his fingers spread against the worn fabric of the tunic, "but what I _want_."

Link raised a hand up to take the one on his shoulder catching a bone in a strange way into his. "And," he asked quietly as the air became harder to breathe, "what is that?"

"You."

It was such a simple word, but for Link it felt as if it was gravity itself, and he thought that his body might shut down as he leaned in. He lifted Sheik's other hand from his shoulder and held his hands in between his own, concentrating on the feel of the frayed wrappings. "Why?" he found himself asking, and his thoughts turned to Saria and the princess. Why did anybody want anybody else? Because they _like_ them? Or maybe because they _need_ them.

"Do you have to ask?" Sheik asked in a dying chuckle. "I told you before that I love you, and..."

"And?" Link asked as he felt the two of them lean forward, and when Sheik's cowl brushed against his lips, he quickly discovered that he didn't care about the difference between like and need.

The fabric gave way beneath Link's parted lips as Sheik pulled it down to expose his face to the potential warmth of another being. "And," he murmured as he was acutely aware of how _close_ the other was, "you're the one thing of mine she can never have..."

Then they kissed.

It was shy at first, and Link thought for a moment that he was dreaming. He had never even so much as seen Sheik's face and there he was kissing it, kissing Sheik. He was kissing Sheik. _Kissing Sheik_. **Kissing**

"Sheik..." he murmured as their lips softly moved against one another, savoring the simple knowledge of each other. The contact made his lips tingle in a way he couldn't believe he had forgotten. He rested an idle hand on the back of the other's head, his fingertips running over the fabric of the wrappings as his tongue flicked out gently to the corner of Sheik's lips.

Deftly Sheik caught Link's lower lip between his own and sucked on it briefly before running his tongue across. When he heard a soft sigh from the other, he smiled and kissed him full on, wrapping his arms around Link's neck. It felt only natural for them to come closer together as if the contact of their lips was a magnet pulling them in. Sheik supposed that was how he found himself practically on Link's lap.

...Not that he or his lap minded in the slightest. In fact, as far as Link was considered, this new positioning was a great success. Sheik straddled him in such a way that if he was only just a bit closer... Well, that would be pretty nice and hopefully not too far off in the immediate future. Still, his proximity made Link's groin tingle and light up with a fire that traveled through his spine to his lips. He parted his mouth slightly and was not at all displeased when Sheik slid his tongue in only to pull it out a few electric seconds later. Through the darkness Link could only imagine the sly smirk that must have shaped his lips.

Sheik leaned forward to suck on Link's bottom lip once more when he felt Link's parted lips suddenly against his, his tongue snaking out to trace between them. After a few seconds of sensation that left him pointlessly closing his eyes in the darkness to savor the touch, Sheik finally parted his lips fully, and almost at once he felt Link's tongue inside. He thought that maybe he felt shallow convulsions within himself but he couldn't tell against the overwhelming heat in his mouth. That awesome tongue of Link's, threatening to consume him...

Link pulled him closer, and the Sheikah's lithe body seemed to almost meld with his, but it still wasn't close enough. Their tongues stroked and wrapped around each other so much that he wasn't sure which lump of muscle was his. Either way, he was aroused, and _Farore_, if only he could get him a little bit closer... His hands moved to Sheik's back where his hands traveled up and down as if intoxicated. It didn't make much sense to him and not even he knew what he wanted out of it. Would Sheik break his neck if he grasped at his buttocks? ...Buttocks? _Buttocks?_ More importantly, would Sheik run from him, laughing, at thinking of such a stodgy word?

He was just about to break away from Sheik's mind-numbing lips to ask about their position - about exactly _what_ they were doing and how far they should maybe go - when he felt hands on his chest sliding downward, downward...over his belt buckle. If Link could concentrate on anything besides the skin beneath those delightful, wrapped fingers, he might have been surprised at how calmly he was taking the fact that Sheik's hands were so close to his growing erection. But then again, if he could concentrate on anything else, maybe he wouldn't have been so calm.

As he felt Sheik's lips leave his own to travel slowly to the space underneath his ears, sensation became increasingly muddied and confused. He could barely distinguish between hot and cold. For instance, Sheik's touch as his fingers slid up inside his tunic to his abdomen and chest...was that a trail of fire or an icy path? Maybe it was both. Could it be both? No, he didn't think it could be. Fire and ice had to alternate or cancel each other out to become steam. He wouldn't be surprised if it was becoming steam, though, with the way his body was heating up. If it kept up, the tunic would have to go. ...That icy fire sensation, like those twin hags who--

No, _no_, NO!

Link's fingers trailed over the nape of Sheik's neck as he let out a soft and lingering sigh. Not that he _ever_ wanted to think of Ganondorf's surrogate mothers, but while he was having a nice little session with Sheik? That was definitely not the time to be thinking of such things.

Fortunately, Sheik was _very_ helpful in dispelling further wandering thoughts as he gently persuaded Link backwards to his forward, hiking the tunic several inches up from where it was supposed to be.

He thought of his hardness newly exposed to the darkness, and suddenly Link realized that the fact that they were metaphorically rendering themselves naked in the darkness of a dangerous temple just really wasn't very important. As he felt his tunic free itself up over his head (he wasn't sure if he had a hand in that) and immediately felt the bare chest of another pressing against his, though, it suddenly occurred to them that they _were_ physically rendering themselves naked...

Link had no idea where his belt, tunic, and Sheik's top garments were, but he was damned if he was going to care.

Gravity made the kiss Sheik gave him particularly electric - feeling the simple weight of the man on top of him (_**man** on top of **him**!_) and pinned against the deck. Temple? Sages? Duty? Danger? What was all that anyway? If they didn't come from those hidden lips that Link could only assume in the darkness were gorgeous, then, well, clearly they didn't matter in the world. What did matter was that Sheik was pressing them together in a delightful way, and Link's hands were all over his back, pressing him further. Maybe if they tried hard enough their skin and bones would give way.

Instead they just melted into each other a bit more despite the fact that Sheik's hand snaked itself between their bodies and slipped down, down... Link felt himself shiver and grow with anticipation as his own hands hand their own downward descend from Sheik's back, stopping to rest on his tail bone. The Sheikah slowly broke the kiss and moved to lick along Link's jawline. After a few agonizing seconds, his wrapped fingers reached their destination and cupped him before rubbing slowly.

At that moment, it felt like Sheik had summoned Din's Fire in his fingers and was transferring Her hot, hot heat into Link...except in an indefinitely nicer way than Link had experienced in that room. The steel door and hands waving like daisies, a rubber transvestite face...a strange reflection. Din's Fire to

His throat seemed to be Sheik's new destination, and that seemed to be enough to bring the hero out of his stupor. An audible groan immediately escaped his lips, and Link hadn't even been aware he had been keeping it locked away. It was all sensation at that point. Sensation, sensation, sensation. Pleasure. Not something he experienced often. He had a feeling that for as much pain his body underwent throughout his struggles, he would gravitate to just about anyone willing to provide something nice. His mind was slowly melting only to travel through his bloodstream to fuel his hardness (simply a rock down his tights?) even more; so questions about what was actually happening would have to wait.

"Wait," Link murmured in a strained whisper, and he brought his hands up to feel for Sheik's face. Once he found it, he bent to kiss him in the darkness, only to find that he had met with a cheek. That was fine, he supposed, as it wasn't hard to find his lips after that. Then he wrapped his arms around Sheik's lithe frame and slowly rolled their bodies over. With Sheik now on his back against the deck, Link only wished it wasn't so dark so he could see such a sight. He didn't even bother to smile because he knew it wouldn't exist anyway without light, and instead he concentrated it into his voice as he laughed, "Now that's better."

Sheik only sighed, but his voice, while distant, hinted that he approved. "Mm, the big, strong hero always has to be on top, hmm?"

He felt a quirk in his lips, but not even he was sure what it was. "Come on, I'm the Hero of Time. Heh, I'm not going to be submissive without a struggle, at least." To placate his words he leaned down to kiss Sheik's cheek.

Link heard a chuckle, and then, "Tell _that_ to all those bossy women in your life."

Shutting up the truth with a deep kiss, Link pressed against him as he unraveled Sheik's headwrap and played with his exposed hair. To his dismay, the Sheikah failed to resume his previous actions and instead ran his hands along Link's legs spread alongside him, pausing every once in a while as if to memorize the path of his muscles.

A light groan from Sheik hummed in Link's mouth, and the hero broke from him as his own lips tingled. "Am I crushing you?"

"...No, you're good," he murmured and his breath seemed shallower than before.

A few seconds passed as a smirk he supposed didn't exist played upon Link's lips. "I am good," he said, and in the back of his mind, that seemed like a familiar response.

Leaning up, Sheik caught a chin between his lips as he murmured against Link's skin wryly, "_That_ we have yet to determine..."

As soon as those words were spoken, Link felt the air in his head change as he stretched forward a bit, giving those unseen lips access to his heroic neck. He felt something wet, _warm_, against his skin and the warmth turned to ice quickly before he could even register the initial sensation in anywhere other than his bulging bulging bulging bulging bulge - a cock, that's what it was. It felt the heat that his mind would never consider, but wasn't that how it always was? His mind had little say in what happened to occur down south downstairs down in the basement, just down down down. He felt his blood drawn to a portion of his neck as nonexistent lips sucked - and wouldn't it be great if it wasn't his neck that was being sucked? His blood would know exactly where to go, then, instead of being confused by the temporary detour to his neck.

And wouldn't that be something if he knew exactly where to go, what to do?

_It would be something if you knew anything at all._

Link tried to adjust his useless Hylian eyes as he tried to process that deprecating thought in the darkness in the dark that was dark and it was dark - it was Dark - _it was--_

He felt ice on his lips and lips on his neck and Sheik's neck was bare as Link himself felt he should be. And Sheik's hands - hands! he had hands! - were pushing him up...no, that wasn't right. Down? Not that, either. Sideways. Sideways, but not in any direction. Sideways up down. Sideways down up. _Upside **down**_ as Sheik's lips suddenly were no longer at his neck but his collarbone...his chest...

Flicking his tongue out, Link felt the tasteless ice on his lips and drew an icicle into his mouth as he felt another tongue flicking out to taste his no doubt salty skin. His nipples and _men had nipples_ he knew. And he knew he was a man.

_It's the only thing you know._

And it was the only thing he knew. Because _Farore_ he could feel it.

_Or maybe you don't know this._

Was he a man after all? What was he, then, if not a man? Maybe...maybe he was metal in the water during a storm, and this was lightning he was feeling... Was he dying? Was he _dying_? ...What was dying, anyway? Link didn't know what it felt like so he couldn't think for sure. He couldn't think anyway because weren't lips (he thought they were lips) on his nipples and -- they weren't? Where'd they go? -- on his stomach and then they weren't there anymore. Like the foreign wetness, his tights seemed to disappear, but oh! There it was again - the wetness (maybe he really was in water) - but not the tights. That was good, though, since they didn't matter anymore. Did they ever? He should have gone on his adventure tightsless as he had as a kid.

But he wasn't a kid anymore. No, that right of his was wrenched away cruelly by...by...

"_Farore_," Link groaned as he felt Sheik's tongue along his

shaft. Shaft! Like a lightning rod, and was this a tongue or lightning? Maybe he wasn't in water after all (because Link had just found out he could breathe), and maybe lightning was just wet. Was lightning wet? It didn't matter because oh Din he was struck by lightning. Repeatedly. Defying common rules, this lightning was a rebel, striking in the same place two, three, four, five, six, seven times. Seven! Was this really lightning? Link knew lightning was bright so he opened his eyes to find out that his eyes had been wide open the entire time.

_Must not be lightning, then._

Must not be.

_Can you see it?_

No.

_Then maybe it doesn't exist._

Maybe it didn't. Maybe Link was just imagining the whole thing, and at once he started laughing at how _pathetic_ that was, if Sheik didn't really exist sucking him off, and--

"What the hell's so funny?" Sheik murmured (Link assumed it was him since he couldn't very well see) with a smirk in his voice, but Link couldn't exactly tell since smirks were one of those things one usually saw instead of heard. At once he was awash with relief. Sheik _did_ exist; that much was good. _He_ existed. And so did he.

"We exist, even in the darkness" Link murmured around an icicle between his lips. And, at they moment, they did, if only in sound. "So you were wrong."

Sheik gave a quick lick to Link's alternate head before asking in a tone that suggested his patience was wearing thin, "about what?"

"Nothing," he sighed in pleasure rather than exasperation.

And it was nothing.

_**We** are nothing._

But sound.

_No, not even that..._

Link closed his eyes because he no longer existed. And if he no longer existed, they no longer existed - their barriers no longer existed. With no barriers, they were free. Free. He was free.

_And what will you do with this newfound freedom?_

Nothing. Because nothing has total freedom, but he sucked on the icicle between his lips anyway. It wasn't true ice, though, because it didn't melt in his mouth. Instead, it was just a very cold thing. In his mouth. That he was sucking on. He didn't know what it was, but that didn't matter because really, he just wanted to suck, to move his head back and forth and pretend he was giving a blowjob just like the one he was receiving.

He just felt more whole and grounded like that. Like there was electricity flowing from Sheik's lips to this ice and he was just a conductor. A connector. He was connecting the two, this fire and ice sensation. His nonexistence now had some semblance of a meaning, though he wasn't quite sure what it was.

All he knew was that he just wanted to suck on something bigger than the slender piece of ice. And then he felt an icy sensation on his cheeks followed by a chunk of ice probing his lips. He parted them and allowed his mouth (what he assumed was his mouth) to be filled to the hilt with ice, and _sweet Nayru_ was it cold...like ice usually was. That, at least, lended some kind of normalcy to his life (disregarding-the-fact-that-ice-normally-does-not-appear-in-mouths-like-that).

But it wasn't like that ice was actually a...n icicle? a lightning rod? a shaft? a _cock_? And it wasn't like he was eagerly bobbing his head back and forth as if he was actually sucking off another man. A man sucking off a man. That was a good, kind gesture, and Link figured he was a good and kind sort of being, despite all all all all all all _all_ _**all**_! Would she think so as well? Would she ever forgive him? Maybe he could tell her about his good deed, and maybe she would look at him and say, "Hey! You really are a good guy, Link, because good guys give imaginary men blowjobs!"

Preoccupied with the mystery in his mouth, Link momentarily forgot that _he_ was a man getting a blowjob. At a later date, he might ask himself how in the hell he could manage to forget something like that, but to his credit, Link didn't exist in that period of nothing. If it was not for Sheik's shallow breaths, he might have forgotten his existence entirely.

The icicle disappeared from his mouth, and Link wondered if it really was ice that had melted that time. Suddenly the icicle was replaced by warm, wet lips, and maybe that's what melted the ice. He kissed back and felt moist fingers in his hair, on his ears, as legs (he thought they were legs anyway) wrapped themselves around his waist, though he didn't know why.

"Let's..."

What?

"...Let's..."

Let's what? Link couldn't exactly distinguish if that was him or him or _him_? And did it matter, really? Deep down in the gut of his stomach, his innate primal nature knew what those words meant to say, even if his superior brain didn't.

"...Let's."

His hands ran along the length of Sheik's thigh to his calf, not surprised to feel flesh for the first time, as he guided both legs to fit over his shoulders. Maybe he knew what he was doing, maybe he didn't. He couldn't really tell, and it occurred to him that if he was doing it, he really _ought_ to know, but he just couldn't. His body was moving at the instruction of his gut, and his mind just didn't know why.

So when he felt hands around his cock and something pressing against the head of it, he pushed his hips forward.

And man.

Man man man _man **man**_!

It was a man.

Below him there was an almost strangled intake of breath or a sigh, and Link leaned down and pressed his lips against the source to see if he could distinguish between the two. The sensation of something so warm enveloping his manhood (ha ha! that's right, he was a man, _too_!) slowly registered to him as he let a slight groan escape from his mouth into another.

When Sheik groaned and started to move, it dawned on Link that he could move his hips back and forth. And so he did. It wasn't a particularly fast pace, but Link felt it increase as he tried to keep in time with the shortening frequency of Sheik's breaths. As for his own sensations...he was hard. Really hard. And it was nice, but he didn't concentrate too much on it.

Instead, he paid attention to the licks of ice along his ear, which he regarded as one of the more sensitive parts of him. For a while, that's all that existed, and he didn't realize he had slowed down in his movements until Sheik's frustrated motions told him otherwise. He felt kind of guilty as he renewed his pace and tried to keep up with what was going on, but only for a little while.

_Such ambivalence for so physical a creature..._

If he actually existed, maybe that would help.

_If you're so in love with light, then why are you here with us?_

He wasn't.

_Are you dead?_

Maybe, Link thought as he felt a slow, anal expansion of ice grow inside him. He perked up even more and began to actually feel himself move inside Sheik.

_Dead, are you? But your bodily reactions state otherwise._

Then he was just playing dead.

_Like the Goddesses._

Link's mind contracted at once, and all of a sudden the only thing he wanted to think about was the physicalities of what was going on between _them_. The motions in and out and out and in and just all of them. His breath became labored as if he had slayed fifty-_seven_ monsters and had twelve more to go. He felt pathetic as he realized that he would be the first to finish unless he distracted his mind _real_ soon.

In his mind he supposed he saw himself fucking Sheik in the Ice Cavern on top of a stalagmite, but that had to change. He went through all the men he knew of (couldn't bring himself to imagine fucking a girl) and finally decided that replacing Sheik with the screaming carpenter boss would slow his arousal significantly.

And it worked...until he felt someone suck on his ear and heard someone moan softly with his breaths. Then the carpenter's wide, open mouth just seemed too tempting. He wanted to feel a bit repulsed for even finding that man remotely appealing even in the midst of such heavy arousal, but his body wouldn't let him, and for that Link searched for another image.

A ReDead.

There. Though he was being quite pleasantly stimulated from both ends, Link was relatively confident that he would not have to undergo the embarrassment of being the virgin who just came too soon.

_How fitting...two creatures so alike._

Link tried not to look down at the ReDead's "face" and shut his eyes despite the image being purely mental.

_Both only _play_ dead..._

Was that it, then? Was that why Link felt himself approaching what he dreaded was the end at such a rapid pace? He wanted to just throw up all over the vile creature, though somewhere in his mind he knew that he wasn't really fucking it...but he wasn't sure anymore. The skeletal creature arched its spine in lust with such a crack that Link felt dizzy just thinking about it.

And there was another one behind him - _inside_ him, thrusting roughly. His voice cracked in a lengthy moan, and he was so ashamed of himself for it. Though he supposed the shame just spurred him on.

Things became erratic, the thrusting and the breathing. Link wasn't sure what was going on in what order. He was pumping his hips as fast as he could manage, and he was quite certain that enough oxygen wasn't making it to his brain through such shallow though frequent breaths, but then he stopped thinking and just looked down at the "face" and the "face" looked at him and things went wide and a

**PIERCING** something melted his brain and his body became

RIGID, and he braced himself for the oncoming attack but it never came as he did so his body just melted in the same goo as his brain that just discharged itself via orgasm and he was relatively sure that this was the end.

Finally.

He retreated from Sheik's body, and sat as he ran his fingers through his hair, still reeling about what had transpired.

Sheik gave a frustrated sigh, and it suddenly occurred to Link that the other hadn't yet come (at least, he didn't remember him as doing so). He might have gave his hand in pleasuring Sheik, but he was slow to act and heard him go on alone. Guilt flashed across his mind along with an incredible sense of uselessness, and he set about feeling his way across the ship deck for his clothes. Perhaps he'd apologize to Sheik later if he wasn't overcome too much with morbid embarrassment.

By the time he had found his tights and tunic (or what he thought were them), Sheik was finished and just as silent as him. He felt along the wood for his shield and sheath, trying not to concentrate on the sound of Sheik's fabric sliding against his bare skin, until he realized that he _saw_ them glimmer faintly in the growing light.

It was the end of the voyage through the heart of darkness. Nice timing.

The vessel stopped as Link re-attached his shield and sheath, and when he was done, he looked over to where Sheik stepped off the dock and onto the dull ground with an intimidating door on its wall. To his dismay, Sheik had his cowl back on, and he just really did not want to go through that door just now.

He departed the ferry and joined Sheik in sitting on a fallen stone pillar that appeared to once frame the door. They were completely silent which unnerved Link because of their previous intimacy. He chalked it up to him being a shitty lover, though, and he wasn't sure why Sheik was still there.

It took a while for Link to realize that Sheik had begun to play the small lyre that had always been harnessed to his back. The tune was pretty, though not something he recognized.

"Let's say that nothing exists in absolute darkness," Link began after quite some thought.

Sheik groaned. "Not this again."

Link ignored him. "If that's right, then what exists in absolute light?"

Taking a few moments to stop and actually consider this if only to perhaps humor the hero, Sheik finally replied, "I do not know, though I hope sincerely that light as well cannot exist without the darkness."

"Huh," Link murmured, and tried to think it over before Sheik interrupted him by simply standing up.

"Well, we have had our rest. Shall we continue on?"

Rising up from the pillar, Link stretched and said, "I think this is the end."

Sheik nodded once and added, "Bongo Bongo is just beyond that door."

"I can handle it from here."

Furrowing his half-hidden brows, Sheik asked, "...Are you certain, Hero?"

"Don't 'Hero' me," Link said wryly, "we just had sex." The words "and I was lousy at it" were left off for obvious reasons involving Link's pride, though the arch of Sheik's brow and a certain look in his eyes seemed to say it anyway.

"Are you absolutely positive that you do not need me for the battle?"

Link nodded and lied, "I'm pretty sure. I mean, this is my job and my job alone. The odds are against me making it out alive every time I fight the big one, and I don't want any harm to come to you."

Seeming placated by this, Sheik closed the distance between them and kissed Link's temple through the fabric of his cowl. "Be careful...Link." With that, Sheik boarded the ferry alone, and it roared to life once again, going steadily against the supernatural current. He sighed, and as Sheik faded from view, he wondered what would happen to Sheik in the darkness.

But he couldn't think about such things now. Taking out a particularly ornate key that he and Sheik had found earlier, he approached and unlocked the large door...

...only to find a _pit_ for a room, and the real entrance to Bongo Bongo's quarters on the other side.

"_Fu_-"


	9. VIII

**N**  
by an awesome blossom  
_Sometimes the difference between real and imaginary is just perception._

Last chapter with notes following.

**VIII.**

"Easy girl," Link murmured as he drew his bow and fired a single arrow that flew through the air at an incredible speed. "...Got it!" Epona whinnied at the tell-tale squeak of a Poe shot and set into a brief gallop. She slowed down considerably, though, at the sensation of her master stroking her mane. "Farore, I'll be glad when this is all over," he said, "and we'll never have to hear one of those damned Poes again."

_Well that wasn't very nice of you. That could have been our desert guide for all you know._

Link sighed and brushed a strand of hair from his face. "Well it wasn't, and even if it was, we don't need it anymore."

_A very unheroic thought. What if the Princess shot_ you_ after you defeated the King of Evil because she didn't need you anymore?_

"Oh, so you think I'll defeat Ganondorf now? A big improvement from what you were telling me earlier. I'm flattered."

_Darling, you know I was just expressing my reservations after you threw up in the middle of fighting Bongo-Bongo._

"It was all that bouncing, but thanks for encouraging me continue this quest in my time of need. I really appreciate it," Link said as he rolled his eyes; the castle town's broken gate came into view shortly after he righted himself.

_Just keeping your best interests in mind. After all, it would do us no good for you to die from your own stupidity._

Dismounting Epona, Link breathed in deeply as his heart beat loudly within his chest. They were so close... "So is that why you returned to help me with that pit with all the invisible ledges?"

_After you stupidly dismissed your Sheikah eyes? Yes. But...since we met I haven't left your side. You just don't listen very well sometimes._

Link nodded, knowing very well that it was true, and rubbed the place where Epona's chestnut coat became her beautiful and wild mane. He wanted to say something to her, but he couldn't decide what. Eventually he figured that they didn't need words anymore, and so he silently sent her off to the ranch. After a few moments of watching her gallop off into the distance, he murmured, "I guess this is it."

_You act as if going to the Temple of Time will be the end._

"I...I'll be seeing Sheik and..."

_And._

Link finally turned around, setting his eyes on the broken gate and the ruined marketplace within. He exhaled suddenly and said in a wavering tone, "I really, _really_ hope she can fix Navi."

There was silence inside his head, so Link treaded through ankle-high water and crossed the threshold of the decayed town, his stomach beginning to churn. He watched the building to his right carefully for any signs of the shifty Poe collector as he passed and came full into the old marketplace. The familiar scent of rot plagued the town as he crept through, keeping a zigzag path because the straight shot in anything was always rich in traps.

He picked up a soft, groaning sound of a ReDead in the distance, and at once his stomach flared up violently. With his hand cupping his mouth, Link struggled to ignore the sound and crept up the steps to the temple courtyard. There it was, the Temple of Time. And just inside...

"You know, I...I'm really tired of the darkness. I just want the light."

_...I know._

Link scoffed and began to toe some stray weeds that had grown near the gossip stones. "You're a monstrosity born from the darkness. How can you possibly _know_?"

_You're so damned_ clueless_, aren't you?_

He bent down to pull a weed that had grown between two stones and then continued down the cobblestone path.

_I may have been born from the darkness, but I am not that _bad_...though you yourself are not that _good

Something within him bristled. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

_Back during our fight in that room...think._

Link came upon the large doors of the temple and pushed through. "I don't have time to think."

_Therein lies your fundamental problem._

Inside the temple with the cathedral ceiling looming overhead, he spied Sheik leaning against the altar. At once his throat went dry and his heart beat faster.

_I don't how I came to be, but I know that I was always waiting for you to realize my presence._

Sheik nodded in acknowledgement and straightened but the expression in his eyes was foreign to Link. "I'm glad to see you safe and in one piece."

He wanted to say something but again the words vanished from his lips.

"_Link_...you have done well to overcome the many hardships fate has bestowed unto you. You have fought many battles and awakened the six Sages. And now you face the final challenge: the King of Evil, _Ganondorf_."

_By the time you entered my world with that fairy companion of yours, you were already cold, tired, and hungry._

"If...you would seek the sacred triangle, listen well. The house of the sacred triangle, the Sacred Realm, is a mirror that reflects what is in your heart."

He didn't want to think about mirrors.

_You two were bickering in illness, so it was the perfect opportunity to show myself and attack._

"If one with an evil heart enters, the Realm will become full of evil; if a pure heart enters, the Realm will become paradise. The sacred triangle - the Triforce - is a balance...that weighs the three forces:"

_She saved your life by alerting you to my presence. I don't know if you remember._

"Power."

_You were strong, but I was stronger._

"Wisdom."

_You used your resources against me in ways that made me proud to fight you, but I already knew all your moves._

"Courage."

_You had spirit, but with your lack of success in injuring me, you began to second-guess yourself._

"If the heart of the one who wields the Triforce has all three forces in balance, he will gain the True Force to govern all. But, if the heart of one is not in balance, the sacred triangle will separate into three parts."

_Do you remember this, or is another memory you no doubt repressed?_

The story sounded familiar, but Link couldn't recall if he had heard it before.

"Of Power, Wisdom, and Courage, only one part representing the force that one most believes in will remain for the one who touched the Triforce."

_You were weak against me, and your friend...Navi, she saw this._

"If that one seeks the True Force, that one must acquire the two lost parts."

_I could see it in your eyes; you were deluding yourself into thinking that you could still win against me in your present state._

"Those two parts will be held within others chosen by destiny who will bear the Triforce mark on the backs of their hands."

_She panicked and tried to butt into the fight to help you, tried to tell you where I was and where I would be. An admirable effort, but ultimately distracting for you - an opportunity I certainly didn't miss when I attacked for the final time._

"Seven years ago, Ganondorf, the King of Thieves, used the door you opened in this Temple to enter the Sacred Realm."

_Blood spilled from your last wound; she shrieked and tried to help, but of course I was not going to miss another opportunity to win the battle. Though instead of defending against me..._

"But when he laid his hands on the Triforce, the legend came true."

Link closed his eyes and just wanted everything to STOP. All this never happened; he didn't want to _know_ it happened. He didn't want to remember.

_You lashed out at her with not your words but your sword._

"The one who holds the Triforce of Courage..."

_Victory was yours because I was no longer an _evil_ for you to stop. I was your heart's reflection, but you weren't so innocent anymore..._

He looked at his hands with new eyes and wondered through the noise in his head if he could even do such a thing.

"...is you, Link!"

In his heart, though, he...

"And the other, the one who holds the Triforce of Wisdom..." Sheik continued as he held out his hand.

...He did know and knew all along.

"The seventh Sage who is destined to be the leader of them all is..."

In the bright light that emanated from Sheik's hand and consumed his vision, Link knew he _wanted nothing more_ than to hear Navi's voice again. He wanted to cup her within his hands and tell her just how much she meant to him because he realized then that he never did.

When the total light dwindled, there was a rustling in his hat and then, "Hey! Look! It's Princess Zelda!"

In the newfound light and emotional relief that followed, Link could see himself clearly inside for the first time. He opened his mouth to tell Sheik and his reflection about his discovery when he realized that all he could see was Princess Zelda and all he could hear was Navi's twinkling. And then a sudden weight overcame him as he realized he was alone.

Just as it did in absolute dark, what existed in absolute light was

Nothing.

* * *

I owe a tremendous thanks to Mazoku85, Chaotic Serenity, and Paul Nolan for both encouraging and threatening me to see this through. Thanks, guys. 

Dark Link and Sheik are two of the most incredible yet strange characters in the Zelda series for the simple reason that they don't actually exist in the games in the same way that they do in various fanart and fanfiction (Dark Link especially). What is it about these two that attracts fans? When it comes down to it, Dark Link and Sheik don't actually exist at all. Sheik is Zelda, and Dark Link, alternately called Shadow Link, is basically Link's shadow that you must fight and beat to prove that good (light) triumphs once again over evil (dark). Anything beyond that is mere fanon.

So thanks for bearing with me while I tried to explore that concept. Your reviews (and even silent support) are greatly appreciated.


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